Article

Carte da trionfi: The development of tarot in fifteenth-century Italy

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author.

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the development and play of tarot cards (carte da trionfi) in fifteenth-century Northern Italy, beginning with their origins in playing card decks imported from the Islamic East, then moving to the popularity of tarot decks at the courts of Milan and Ferrara, and concluding with the decline in taste for hand-painted tarot packs after 1500. Through a close examination of images of pastimes, legal and religious treatment of different types of recreation, and game treatises I argue that tarot was ideologically redefined as an aristocratic, moral, and private recreation in opposition to the playing-card deck's associations with the lower classes, gambling, and the public spaces of the city. Final chapters on memory and gender detail tarot's reconceptualization within court culture first as an intellectual and then as a feminine pursuit that shaped "one's character" in moral, social, and sexual terms.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.

Chapter
Full-text available
In a society increasingly intolerant of religious enquiry, where empirical scientific investigation and strict rationalism are afforded primary importance, tarot has been discredited, linked in the media and popular culture with dodgy soothsayers with a malignant intent to deceive and with weak-minded seekers clad in rainbow colours. The relatively small numbers of scholarly works relating to tarot is in marked contrast to the large numbers of popular tarot books, which crowd the shelves of New Age bookstores and ‘Self-Help’ corners of department stores.
Chapter
Full-text available
In a society increasingly intolerant of religious enquiry, where empirical scientific investigation and strict rationalism are afforded primary importance, tarot has been discredited, linked in the media and popular culture with dodgy soothsayers with a malignant intent to deceive and with weak-minded seekers clad in rainbow colours. The relatively small numbers of scholarly works relating to tarot is in marked contrast to the large numbers of popular tarot books, which crowd the shelves of New Age bookstores and ‘Self-Help’ corners of department stores.
Chapter
Full-text available
Tarot is central to the philosophies of the New Age. If you look in any of the numerous popular books about tarot, you will read that ancient Egyptians encoded their secrets into these mysterious cards when they were threatened by brutal invaders. Yet others say that tarot were invented by the Gypsies, then thought to be Egyptians. Alas, neither of these theories are true!
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.