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<B>Tarot <br>Art and Magic<br><br>
INTERNATIONAL<br>EXHIBITION</b></font><br><br>
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<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/">Start</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/00/">Introduction</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/01/">Celestial Harmony</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/02/">Allegorical Iconography</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/03/">Divine Hermes</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/04/">Game of Tarots</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/05/">Book of Thot</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/06/">Cartomancy</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/07/">Modern Artists</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/08/">Technical Notes</A>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/09/">Le Tarot</A>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/10/">Andrea Vitali</A>
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<H3>THE GAME OF TAROTS
</H3>
In the first decade of the 15th Century in one of the following cities, such as Milan, Bologna or Ferrara, this card game was conceived and, from the 16th Century, it quickly spread in Europe. The Tarots were originally used in games with rules near to those of the chess and for this ingenious character, the Ludus Triomphorum was expressly omitted in the ordinances against the games of hazard emanated during the 15th Century.<br>
Besides, thanks to numerous Renaissance documents, it is known that in aristocratic courts the game of Tarots was at the centre of sophisticated entertainments, for example the invention of courtly sonnets and answering questions of various kinds concerning cards taken from the pack.<br>
Another common practice that lasted until 19th Century, was that of associating the Tarot figures to famous people, composing sonnets or simple mottoes on them which might be praising, comic, or decidedly satirical in tone.<br>
In the 18th Century there was a rich production of Tarots developed with fantastic scenes, inspired to the animal world, to the history, to the mythology, to the customs of the various people. <br>
But since it was an hazard game, with all the consequences that this involved, starrting from the 16th Century the Church intervened to repress it. Jusat after a hundred years from their creation, the Christian meaning of the Mystical Staircase on which their order was structured, had been already forgotten.<br>
These playful and literary practices soon however lost their importance. As early as the end of the 15th century an anonymous Dominican preacher denounced the Tarots as the work of devils, and supported his claim by arguing that in order to draw men into vice the inventor of the game had deliberately employed solemn figures such as the Pope, the Emperor, the Christian virtues, and even God.
The good monk writes besides that "if the player thought about the meaning of the papers, he would run away. In fact in the cards there is a fourfold difference. There is money running away form players’ hands. And this means the instability of the money of the player, because you must think that when you enter in the game you will loose your money. They are also there the cups to show what a poverty will come, because the poor player with no more glasses will drink in a cup. They are also there the batons. The wood is dry to suggest the aridity of the divine grace in the player.<br>
There are even the swords that mean the brevity of the life of the player since he will be killed, etc. Really, no kind of sinners is so desperate as that of the card players. When a player loses and cannot have the desired point, the card or the triumph, it strikes the cross in the money, cursing God or the saints, and he throws away the dice with anger telling himself “That I had my hand cut off” etc. <br>
Very easily he becomes angry with the companion that derides him and continually rise some offenses and they beat each other etc.” The anonymous preacher then ends with the canonical sentence “Player, open your eyes or yiou’ll get a bad end”.<br>
Despite the sentence of the Church the Tarots kept on spreading, so much that beginning from the 18th century, Tarots were imported in Italy from France and in particular from Marseilles - whose design was imitated by producers in Lombardy and Piedmont to renovate their own production. <br>
Then, under the pressure of more modern games, the Tarots gradually disappeared, so that today they are used in a few places in Sicilia, Emilia, Lombardy, Piedmont and south-eastern France. But in the meantime the Tarot images had been subject to esoteric manipulations and interpretations which led them to be considered as "magical icons".<br>
<P>4 THE GAME OF TAROTS 16th - 20th centuries<BR>This section is illustrated by
ancient hand-painted cards coming from different Italian regions and European
Nations, ancient illustrated books and manuscripts about the game and its rules,
etchings with card players, posters and edicts from kings or governments, very
rare and precious boxes to hold cards and counters.</P>
<P>Cards</P>
<P>The list here is only illustrative and synthetic and not final. In fact, for
every Italian regionour Cultural Association has a wide number of specimen of
tarots. Here, being the exhibition targeted to the symbolic universe and the
allegorical iconography of the Tarots, it does not include the exhibition of
identical packs coming from different printers, being the iconography very
similar. The presence of German Tarots, as well as of Austrian and French Tarots
with landscape and animal sceneries, is purely explanatory of a trend, as is the
exhibition of posters and edicts from kings or governments and of card
boxes.</P>
<P>Tarots from Bologna</P>
<P>Tarocchino Al Leone<BR>Bologna, beginning of 18th C.<BR>Wood-cuts painted
with stencils</P>
<P>Tarocchino Grandi<BR>Bologna, half of the 19th C.<BR>Wood-cuts painted with
stencils</P>
<P>Tuscan minchiate</P>
<P>Minchiate Etruria<BR>Florence, 1725<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils</P>
<P>Minchiate Al Mondo<BR>Bologna, 18th C.<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils</P>
<P>Minchiate Neoclassiche<BR>Florence, 1820<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils</P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P>Lombard Tarots</P>
<P>Tarot Al Soldato<BR>Milan, 1780<BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Neoclassico<BR>Milan, 1810<BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Gumppenberg-Della Rocca<BR>Milan, 1825<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Gumppenberg<BR>Milan, 1850<BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Dotti<BR>Milan, 1850<BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Dotti<BR>Milan, 1860<BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Ligurian and PiedmonteseTarots</P>
<P>Tarot Lando<BR>Turin, 18th C. <BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Marengo<BR>Turin, 18th C. <BR>Wood-engravings painted with stencils</P>
<P>Tarot G.B. Guala in Ghemme<BR>Turin, 1850<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils</P>
<P>Tarot Viarengo<BR>Turin, second half of 19th C.<BR>Wood-engravings painted
with stencils</P>
<P>Sicilian Tarots</P>
<P>Tarot Fortuna<BR>Palermo, approx. 1840<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils (Reproductions)</P>
<P>Tarot of Concetta Campione<BR>Catania, 1940<BR>Offset in colour</P>
<P>French Tarots</P>
<P>Tarot of Marseille N. Conver<BR>Marseille, 1760<BR>Hand-painted
wood-engraving</P>
<P>Tarot of Marseille B. Suzanne<BR>Marseille, 1820<BR>Hand-painted
wood-engraving</P>
<P>Tarot of Marseille Gassmann<BR>Geneva, 1863<BR>Wood-engravings painted with
stencils</P>
<P>Tarot of Besançon Renault<BR>Besançon, 1830<BR>Hand-painted
wood-engraving</P>
<P>Tarot Nouveau <BR>Paris, 1900 (Grimaud)<BR>Chromolithographs </P>
<P>Tarots with fantasy scenes</P>
<P>Tarot Allegorico<BR>Tarot by Joseph Estel, Wien, 1815<BR>Hand-painted
wood-engravings</P>
<P>Tarot Industrie und Glück (Industry and Fortune)<BR>Wien, 1870
(Piatnik)<BR>Hand-painted etchings</P>
<P></P>
<P>Tarot Industrie und Glück (Industry and Fortune)<BR>Wien, 1900
(Piatnik)<BR>Chromolithographs</P>
<P>Tarot with Animal scenes<BR>Tarot by A.B. Gobl, Munich, end of 18th
C.<BR>Hand-painted etchings</P>
<P>Tarot Dondorf <BR>Frankfurt, 1906<BR>Chromolithographs </P>
<P>Tarot with Hunting scenes <BR>Trieste, early 19th C.<BR>Wood-engravings
painted with stencils</P>
<P>Jugendstil –Tarock (Ditha Moser)<BR>Wien, 1982<BR>Offset (Piatnik)<BR>The
original version of these cads appeared in 1906.</P>
<P>Books</P>
<P>.Sieur de la Marinière ( Jean Pinson de la Martinière )<BR>La Maison
Academique <BR>(The academic House)<BR>Lyon, 1674</P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Istruzione per i novelli confessori <BR>(Instructions for the
new confessors)<BR>Lucca, 1725</P>
<P>Carlo Pisarri<BR>Istruzioni necessarie per chi volesse imparare il giuoco
dilettevole delli <BR>Tarocchini di Bologna <BR>(Necessary instructions for who
wants to learn the amusing game of the Tarocchini di Bologna) <BR>Bologna,
1754</P>
<P></P>
<P>Antonio Malatesti<BR>La Sfinge, enigmi sulle Minchiate <BR>(The sphynx,
enigms about the Minchiate)<BR>No place, no date (Florence ?, late 17th C.)</P>
<P>Miche L'Angelo Barbiellini<BR>Trattato de' giochi e de' divertimenti permessi
o proibiti ai cristiani<BR>(Treaty about the games allowed and prohibited to the
christians)<BR>No place, 1768</P>
<P>Diderot - D'Alembert<BR>Pamphlet about the manufacture of cards, from the
"Encyclopedie"<BR>Paris, 1770</P>
<P>Anonymous <BR>Academie Universelle des Jeux <BR>(Universal Game
Academy)<BR>Lyon, 1805</P>
<P>Camillo Cavedani. <BR>Lettera di un dilettante della partita a Tarocchi ad un
amico desideroso d’apprendere un metodo facile per conteggiare con la massima
sollecitudine<BR>(Letter of an amateur of the Tarot game to a friend willing to
learn immediately a simple counting method)<BR>Bologna, 1812</P>
<P>Carlo O.<BR>Regole inalterabili per tutti i giuochi di tarocco detti di
commercio (Unchangeable rules for all Tarot games called commercial)<BR>Turin,
1830 </P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Regole generali del gioco delle Minchiate <BR>(General rules for
the Minchiate game)<BR>Florence, 1852</P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Il gioco dei Tarocchi<BR>(The Tarot game)<BR>Pictures included
in Sonzogno Almanac, Milan, 1886</P>
<P></P>
<P>Henry Ren d'Allemagne<BR>Les cartes à jouer (Vol.s I°- II° – III° – IV°)
<BR>(The playing cards)<BR>Paris, 1906</P>
<P>Manuscripts </P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Leggi correttive degli abusi introdottisi nel gioco delli
Tarocchi<BR>(Correction rules for the abuses made during the Tarot game)<BR>no
date, 18th C. </P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Del modo di giuocare il Tarocco, ossia alla Partita <BR>(About
the way of playing Tarot, or about the game)<BR>Bologna, 1840</P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Il Giuoco de' Tarocchini sopra Michele Tekeli ribello<BR>(The
Tarocchino game as per Michele Tekeli, rebellious)<BR>Bologna, 19th C.</P>
<P>Posters</P>
<P>Editto sul gioco delle carte<BR>(Edict about playing cards)<BR>Naples, King
Ferdinand the Fourth, 1760</P>
<P>Manifesto camerale <BR>(Room poster)<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office, March
28, 1761</P>
<P>Edict of his majesty<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office, December 18, 1763</P>
<P>Manifesto camerale <BR>(Room poster)<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office,
December 29, 1774</P>
<P></P>
<P>Manifesto camerale<BR>(Room Poster)<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office, January
10, 1776</P>
<P>Manifesto camerale <BR>(Room poster)<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office, June
12, 1815</P>
<P>Editto Reale<BR>(Regal edict)<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office, May 16,
1815</P>
<P>Manifesto camerale <BR>(Room poster)<BR>Turin, Royal printing-office,
November 17, 1820</P>
<P>Avviso sulle tasse delle carte <BR>(Notice about the cards tax)<BR>Turin,
Royal printing-office, November 18, 1825</P>
<P>Avviso sul bollo delle carte<BR>(Notice about the stamp of the playing cards)
<BR>Turin, Royal Printing - office, November 18, 1825 </P>
<P>Avviso sul bollo delle carte<BR>(Notice on the stamp of the paying cards)
<BR>Bologna, General Contractor of the Stamp on the playing cards authorized by
the Monsignor General Treasurer, November 18, 1825. </P>
<P>Patente sul bollo delle carte da gioco - Regno Lombardo Veneto<BR>(Patent on
the stamp of the playing cards - Lombard and Venetian Kingdom) <BR>Our Residence
in Wien (We, Ferdinand the First, with the Grace of God, Austrian Emperor),
January 27 th 1840. </P>
<P>Tools for the games</P>
<P>Card box<BR>Inlaid wood, with several compartments<BR>Italy, 18th C.</P>
<P>Card and counter box<BR>In lacquered wood, containing four boxes with bone
counters - Love scenes on <BR>top and bottom of the main box and on the internal
boxes.<BR>Venice, 18th C.<BR>Card and counter box<BR>In lacquered wood,
containing four boxes with bone counters - Chinoiserie scenes on top and bottom
of the main box and on the internal boxes.<BR>Venice, 18th C.</P>
<P>Card and counter box<BR>In lacquered wood, containing four boxes with bone
counters - Seafaring scenes on top and bottom of the main box and on the
internal boxes.<BR>Venice, 18th C.</P>
<P>Card and counter box<BR>In lacquered wood, containing four boxes with bone
counters - Mythological scenes on top and bottom of the main box and on the
internal boxes.<BR>Venice, 18th C.</P>
<P>Game box<BR>Made of red lacquered wood, with flower patterns, it contains
four rectangular smaller boxes to hold the counters. Each cover of the smaller
boxes holds a turning disc made of bone to count the scores.Chips made of
bone.<BR>Venice, 18th C.</P>
<P>Card and counter box<BR>In lacquered wood, containing four boxes with
landscapes painted on the lids, <BR>counters of various shapes in coloured
ivory.<BR>Vienna, early 19th C.</P>
<P>Card box<BR>In lacquered wood, containing four boxes with bone counters –
Neo-classic rose-pot on top and bottom of the main box and on the internal
boxes. Chips made of bone.<BR>England, early 19th C.</P>
<P>Card box<BR>In wood finished with silver, containing four boxes with the
figures of four kingspainted by hand on the lids, counters of various shapes in
precious stones.<BR>Italy, early 20th C. </P>
<P>Art Dec card box<BR>Walnut, corners in thuya, feet in silver, back in ebony
with ivory inserts. <BR>Italy ?, around 1930 </P>
<P></P>
<P>Prints</P>
<P>Jacques Callot (Nancy 1592 - 1635)<BR>The cardsharper<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Jonas Süyderhoef (Leida 1613 - Haarlem 1686)<BR>Brawl between
card-players<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Cornelis Pietersz Bega (Haarlem 1620 - 1664)<BR>The young inn-keeper
caressed<BR>Etching </P>
<P>Nikolaus Van I Hoy (Antwerp 1631 - Wien 1679)<BR>Noblemen playing<BR>Etching
</P>
<P>Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (Bologna 1634 - 1718)<BR>Conversazione considerabile
<BR>(Considerable conversation)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Giuseppe Maria Mitelli ( Bologna 1634 - 1718)<BR>Chi gioca per soldi perde
per necessità <BR>(Who plays for necessity will surely loose)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Anton Joseph von Prenner (Wallerstein 1698 - Wien 1761)<BR>Brawl between
card-players<BR>Etching </P>
<P>D.C. C. Fleischmann (active in Nurnberg 1690)<BR>The empty jug<BR>Etching
</P>
<P>Heinrich Guttemberg (Wöhrd 1743 - Nurnberg 1818)<BR>Card players<BR>Etching
</P>
<P>Jean Heudelot (Montpellier 1730 - ?)<BR>The interrupted game<BR>Etching </P>
<P>Pieter Tanjé (Bolswart 1706 - Amsterdam 1761)<BR>The cardsharper<BR>Etching
</P>
<P>Jean Dambrun (Paris 1741 - 1808)<BR>Le partie de Whist<BR>Coloured engraving
</P>
<P>Johann Jacob Haid (Kleineslingen 1704 - Augsbourg 1767)<BR>Das Lombre Spiel
<BR>(The play of the Man)<BR>Etching </P>
<P>Pierre Chenu (Paris 1730 - approx. 1780)<BR>Sailors having fun<BR>Etching
</P>
<P>Pierre Chenu (Paris 1730 - approx. 1780)<BR>Les amusements des matelots
<BR>(The amusements of the sailors)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Anonymous (18th C)<BR>L’Apotecaire charitable<BR>(The benevolent
chemist)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Anonymous (18th C)<BR>The cardsharper<BR>Etching </P>
<P>Anonymous (France beginning of the 19th C.)<BR>Napoleon Officiers and
gentlemen playing cards<BR>Drypoint</P>
<P>Carl Daniel Voigt (Brunswick 1747 - Kiel 1813)<BR>The cheating
players<BR>Aquatint</P>
<P>Richard Hatfield (London 1809 -1867)<BR>The reduced gentleman's
daughter<BR>Steel </P>
<P>Claude Thielley (Rully 1811 - 1891)<BR>Paris Salon<BR>Colour Lythography</P>
<P>Anonymous (19th C.)<BR>Knights of our Lady<BR>Lythography and coloured
chalk</P>
<P>Albert Henry Payne (London 1812 - Leipzig 1902))<BR>Der Trumpeter <BR>(The
trumpeter)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Edward. Smith (London active 1823 - 1851)<BR>The queen of hearths<BR>Etching
<BR>Lithography in colour </P>
<P>Anonymous (19th C.)<BR>Merry friars<BR>Lithography coloured in chalks</P>
<P>Albert Henry Payne (London 1812 - Leipzig 1902)<BR>Bambini al gioco delle
carte<BR>(Childrens playing cards)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Berard (France, 19th C.)<BR>Une soirée d’etudians<BR>(An evening of
students)<BR>Litography</P>
<P>Other works</P>
<P>Anonymous (France 17th C.)<BR>Brawl between card-players<BR>Arras</P>
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