Ancient Italian Tarot

Le Fanu

Im no expert, just a lover of these decks!

In a nutshell, I guess (just my impressions) that as the Soprafino and Neoclassico come from the early/mid 19th Century I feel that in terms of artwork they have that Classical / academic tradition or even - in the case of the Soprafino - little baroque touches. I feel that both these decks have a "high art" feel which distinguishes them from a lot of decks which have a more rough and "popular" feel.

The Tarot of the Master /di Vacchetta is from the latter part of the century and - to me, anyway - has more of a high Victoriana feel. It feels more whimsical, artsy, craftsy and not at all academic in the artwork. Almost like book illustrations. The medium is different too. The fact that it is (I think) watercolour makes it feel more expressive than an engraved deck.
 

faunabay

Thank you Le Fanu. You're more of an expert than I am hon!! :* I had no clue.....just knew which ones I liked. LOL

I really do like my Classical. But am thinking seriously about buying the Tarot of the Master too. I'm one of those people who horribly failed at being deenabled!!! :p I think you were one who tried to talk me out of it. LOL You gave it a good shot, but as you can see I don't think it took. :laugh:
 

sapienza

Thanks for the info Le Fanu, that makes it much clearer. I'd love to get myself the Il Meneghello versions of these decks but for now I'll have to be content with the ones I have.....when they arrive :)

faunabay, the Tarot of the Master is wonderful :D I can say this here because it's not the de-enabling thread. It seems to be getting a bit harder to find, not sure if it's actually OOP or not, but if you are interested it's probably worth getting now to avoid missing out. I really love reading with it, thanks for the compliment by the way. There is just so much to work with in the minors and although it's quite a different style to the 'Soprafino' type decks it's still very expressive. I love it. I think that the beauty of working with it is that you need to just go with your own intuition because what the symbols mean is completely open to interpretation as nothing was ever written by the creator....that I know of anyway.
 

emmsma

Thanks to this thread, I have purchased the Tarot of the Master!
Found it at bookdepository.co/uk
 

faunabay

I had heard it was getting more difficult to find. That's why I'm seriously thinking about getting one now. Llewellyn still lists them. And there's someone on ebay that has a few. But amazon doesn't list them anymore and it does look like they're getting more scarce.

I like all the animals in it. And the flourishy ribbons are just pretty! :heart: I think I'm just going to have to eat a bit less for a while and get one. :p
 

sapienza

I got my first one in a trade but have also recently got a spare from Book Depository....it's still in the post.

I'm sure you won't regret having it. There are a few threads on it somewhere if you do a search. Also at this link you can download the images to colour in yourself. Hours of fun and a great way to get to know the deck.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4893253/Vacchetta-Deck

Enjoy :)
 

faunabay

sapienza said:
I got my first one in a trade but have also recently got a spare from Book Depository....it's still in the post.

I'm sure you won't regret having it. There are a few threads on it somewhere if you do a search. Also at this link you can download the images to colour in yourself. Hours of fun and a great way to get to know the deck.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4893253/Vacchetta-Deck

Enjoy :)
Oh, what a great idea! I'm off to look at the link. Thanks sapienza!!
 

sapienza

Getting back to the Ancient Italian.....is it still in print? I notice Book Depository have it, but not Amazon. Would Lo Scarabeo be likely to re-print any of these decks? As is my luck, I generally only discover decks once they have gone out of print
 

faunabay

Thank you so much for the link sapienza! I love looking at all the cards and think it would be wonderful to color in all of them.

Like you said though - back to the Ancient Italian.....I've been looking at the it too. Because I do love my Classical so far. Again it looks like Llewellyn still has them listed as available. But i wonder if they're going to become hard to find as well.

I like what others have said about the people in the Ancient Italian have more expression in their faces than the Classical.

It's funny but all the sudden I've gotten an interest in these soprafino type decks. I really am liking them!
 

sapienza

The Classical does have much finer lines than the Ancient Italian, but I just can't connect with it as well. Everyone seems grumpy. Almost everyone has a frown. In the Ancient Italian, although it's a little 'rougher' as far as art and colouring go, the facial expressions are absolutely amazing. This is the deck that actually inspired my interest in the historical decks. And, it also has no keywords, which I love, and the backs are SO much nicer than the Classical.

There was some talk recently about starting a study group for these Soprafino decks but nothing ever came of it. I think the best place would be in the 'Marseilles & Other Early Decks' Forum. I just haven't got to it yet.