From Visconti to Marseille

[Pio2001]

I've just had the idea to display several historical decks side by side.

 

Click on the pictures to see a high resolution version.

 

 

 

From top to bottom :

• Visconti di Modrone tarot (around 1445). The cards with a red cross are not originals.
• Rosenwald sheet (around 1500). The cards with a red cross are not originals. 
• Minchiate Gaetano - All Aquila (1763, restored). 
• Pierre Madenié tarot (1709). 
• Marseille Vintage Tarot (2022, rebuilt from Conver, 1760). 
• Tarot de Besançon, Grimaud (around 1895).

 

The order presented here is a hybrid between order A1, with the three virtues, Temperance, Force and Justice, between the Lover and the Chariot, and with the Judgement after the World; and the order of the Minchiate, with Justice after Force. Traditionally, the four cardinal virtues are in this order :  prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The Minchiate have the last one first.

 

We can see that some cards have undergone some changes through centuries, like the Star or the World. Other remained nearly unchanged like the Hanged Man or Justice.

 

It is interesting to see that the three bottom tarots are nearly identical. Even the colours are similar in the Pierre Madenié and the Vintage / Conver. The author of the Conver (who is not Nicolas Conver, born 1784) merely reproduced either the Madenié or maybe a previous unknown deck that Madenié would have himself reproduced.

The 1930 Ancien Tarot de Marseille, by Grimaud, did not keep these colours.

 

The bottom one is a tarot published by Grimaud between 1891 and 1899. The drawings are exactly the same as the ones published in 1930 (except of course, le Pape and la Papesse). Some believe that the author of these drawings would be Antoine Lefer, a parisian card maker.

 

The tarots used for this comparison are :

 

• Visconti di Modrone tarot. Lo Scarabeo, restored by Mattia d'Auge. 
• Rosenwald tarot. Tarot Sheet Revival, by Sullivan Hismans. 
• Le Minchiate restauré. Trajectoires, restored by Emmanuelle Iger.
• Pierre Madenié tarot included in Le Tarot Pas à Pas. Dervy, by Marianne Costa. 
• Marseille Vintage Tarot. Lo Scarabeo, by Anna Morsucci, Mattia Ottolini, Chiara De Magistris.
• Tarot de Marseille - Paris 1890 CA. Lo Scarabeo.

 

 

[Pio2001]

It is intersting to see that in the Visconti di Modrone and Madenié tarots, the coat of arms of the emperor and empress is the one of the Holy Roman Empire : a black eagle on gold field. But from Conver onwards, the colour changed.

Below :

• Visconti di Modrone (around 1445)
• Madenié (1709)
• Conver (1760, couloured around 1809-1833 by Nicolas Conver, restored) 

 

 

Here is the imperial banner of the Holy Roman Empire (source : wikipedia) :

 

 

Edited December 31, 2024 by Pio2001

[Pio2001]

And here is its terrotory in 1378 and 1648. We can see that Milano was part of the Holy Roman Empire when the Visconti di Modrone tarot was designed, but the Madenié and my Minchiate were designed just outside. 

 

 

The Conver tarot was designed in 1760, but the cards that we all know were coloured after 1809 by Nicolas Conver in Marseille (using his old model from 1760 but that had no colours). The Empire was then no more. Maybe that's why the eagle became yellow on blue field. 

 

Another symbol that we can see on the Emperor and Empress cards is the imperial orb.

Here is the orb from the Holy Roman Empire, dated from the end of the 12th century (source : wikipedia) : 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a painting by Albrecht Dürer made in 1511, of emperor Charlemagne (wikipedia).

The black eagle and the orb are there, although Charlemagne (748-814) never wore the black eagle, that appeared much later. 

This painting was made after the Visconti tarots, but before the Madenié. 

 

[Pio2001]

Since we are talking about symbols of power, we can have a look at the pope and popess. 

I don't have exact reproductions of the pope and popess of the Visconti-Sforza tarot (the ones of the Visconti di Mondrone are lost), but here are they, from the webpage of Kevin Meunier, who scanned a lot of historical tarots : https://formation.kevinmeunier.com/tarots-anciens/

 

They wear the papal tiara with the triple crown. The tiara appears in most tarots, although I'm not sure if there are actually two or three crowns. Here is the Madenié 1709. The Conver deck is similar.

 

 

Here is pope Giovanni XXIII wearing a tiara with three crowns (source : wikipedia)

 

Edited December 31, 2024 by Pio2001

[Pio2001]

 

Now let's have a look at the Rosenwald sheet (around 1500). 

 

Cards II and V are the Popess and Pope, with a double crown.

Cards III and IIII are the empress and emperor, holding the imperial orb.

 

 

The popess and pope of the Rosenwald sheet have the same symbols as pope Bonifacio VIII, here represented by Arnolfo di Cambio around 1298 (source : wikipedia) : a double crown, that he is believed to have introduced, and Saint Peter's keys. 

 

 

Saint Peter's keys have remained a symbol of most popes. They are still present on the flag of the Vatican city.

The third crown of the papal tiara appeared during the XIVth century, that is before the Visconti tarot.

 

In this Minchiate deck from 1763 (restored), these three unnamed characters have imperial attributes.

II has the eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, while III and IIII have the imperial orb. 

 

 

[Scandinavianhermit]

I'm very excited by this visual comparison!

 

By adding Viéville (c. 1650), Jean-Pierre Payen (1713) and Vandenborre (c. 1770 or 1780, but following an older pattern) this visual history would be complete. Most of the traits we associate with Marseille decks are already present in the Vieville deck, but what we know as the House of God or the Tower is significantly different. The Vandenborre deck preserve a design for the World card obviously close to the Rosenwald sheet, but diverging in its design of trumps II. and V. Payen's marseille-deck differ from Madenié in how the Devil and the Moon are designed. 

 

I wish you a happy end to the old year!

[Pio2001]

Missing pictures of the emperor have been restored in the 3rd message.