Tarocchini
di MitelliTarocchini
di MitelliThis is a wonderful old Italian deck for the collector. The cards are larger than normal, and very beautiful, fine examples of late renaissance art. Like some other Italian decks, this one has been reduced to 62 cards (hence "tarocchini" rather than "tarocchi"). The two, three, four, and five of each suit have been omitted.
One
of the fascinating things about this deck is the variations
introduced into the trump cards. Instead of Papess and Pope, there is
a standing pope and a seated pope, who otherwise appear to be exactly
the same person. The seated pope, like the Papess, has a book on his
lap, but apparently is meant to correspond with the Pope card in the
traditional tarot. The World is Atlas; The Moon is the goddess Diana
rather than the towers, dogs, and crayfish (although she has a
hunting dog at her side); and the Hanged Man is a sleeping fellow
about to be clobbered by a traitorous friend--just to name a few.
My favorite variation in the deck involves the Hermit and the Star. For the Hermit, we find the image of Father Time on crutches, as seen on a number of old Italian decks. In the Mitelli deck, he appears naked and with wings. What wonderful symbolism! A winged man walking with crutches. Is this telling us all something? The Star, on the other hand, looks like the traditional Hermit! Yes, that's him to the right, complete with staff and lantern. But notice the bright star and its six fainter attendants. These two cards opened up whole new dimensions of tarot for me.
The
suit cards are very nice as well. You sometimes have to look closely
to distinguish pages from queens (the queens have crowns). The number
cards are essentially pips, but the artist embellished them with lots
of symbolic detail, another fascination of this deck. The ten of
coins, for example, shows ten copper coins each depicting a different
activity: hunting, archery, etc. The seven of coins shows silver
coins with gargoyle-like face charicatures on them.
Look
at the nine of staves to the left. The staves are tied together in an
odd pattern, and a bird sits on the lower group, perhaps unable to
get past the snake to roost on the top. The ten of staves shows the
snake gone and the bird eating fruit from the top staff.
These cards have all the charm and character of the old decks, and show a great deal of artistry in design and execution. They also have more symbolic interest than many decks of similar vintage. Despite their antiquity, I find they give me a lot to work with in a reading. The colors are lovely and subtle. The Death card, for example, has an eery ashen look to it that is very evocative.
We are often reminded that the tarot cards were at this time used for game playing, rather than occult purposes. But then you look at this deck, put together by a talented artist with apparently a wealth a renaissance symbolism at his disposal, and you have to wonder whether a beautiful deck like this might have been appreciated and used in all sorts of ways that didn't get recorded in the surviving documents of the time.
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Copyright © 1998 Tom Tadfor Little