Early Tarot designs and contemporary works of art?

Zephyros

I just read, thanks to Huck, the TarotL fact sheet, in which it says that

The symbolism of the trumps is drawn from the culture of Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Most tarot subjects are distinctive to European Christendom. Illustrations virtually identical to each of the tarot subjects can be found in European art, and such precise analogs are not found in other cultures

and found this an intriguing thought. Is there a table anywhere that correlates existing works from the period with different cards? If not, such a compilation would be invaluable; I would be willing to compile it myself, with links to Wikipedia and pictures, but, obviously, I have neither the knowledge nor the sources. Is there such a thing?
 

Huck

There's an article in Kaplan Encyclopedia II, p. 154-181

There are Andrea Vitali's essays to each card at this page
http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=310&lng=ENG
in the middle part of the menu
Andrea Vitali's Iconological Essays
You've to click the "figure"-links to see pictures

There is a
wild collection in "Bianca's Garden"
to each card

There are occasional iconographic themes here at aeclectic, though not sorted. Likely difficult to find.
 

Teheuti

Bob O'Neill has essays on each of the cards with sample art at http://www.tarot.com in the Tarot>Library section. Vitali's essays are also incredible.

I recommend going in the Tarot Tour to Italy. It will totally wake you up to see all these images in context rather than just in a book or on the net.

If you go through earlier posts in Tarot Research you'll find a lot of card-related imagery. It's not like there is just one set of images - but new examples are being found all the time. They have to be evaluated in terms of appropriate time and place and if the other images they are associated with support the same context as the early Tarot. Some images are more relevant than others even when the pictures are nearly identical.

I remember one discussion - either here or at the Tarot History Forum on the shoes worn by the Magician as found in other images from the period. At least I think I remember such a post.
 

Titadrupah

Hi closrapexa, Jean-Michel David's "Reading the Marseille Tarot" ebook will give you an incredible wealth of examples of precisely what you're looking for. Card by card.
 

aimeedanger

There's an article in Kaplan Encyclopedia II, p. 154-181

There are Andrea Vitali's essays to each card at this page
http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=310&lng=ENG
in the middle part of the menu
Andrea Vitali's Iconological Essays
You've to click the "figure"-links to see pictures

Well, that's not quite right. He's linking to representations of the same allegories repeated throughout the culture at that time. The allegories expressed in the Tarot were VERY familiar to the typical Renaissance Italian person. But, the Tarot is not the source of the imagery, more likely the compilation of the imagery to most likely tell a story. In that time, people spoke as much in floral allegory as they would in business terms. It was, even, a sign of your class to speak as classically or rhetorically as possible, so to allude something mundane to something profound was very common.
The early cards weren't numbered. How did most people know that the Popess came before Temperance? They had a system, but I think it's a stretch to say that it was based off Christian iconography, especially for us to try to relate it to Christianity as it is today.

Dr. Betz (sp?) wrote a book where he suggested the original source for the Tarot was an illustrated manuscript on the 2nd coming of Christ and Armageddon. That's the closest I've seen to a serious suggestion that the original iconography was christian in nature.
 

Teheuti

Dr. Betz (sp?) wrote a book where he suggested the original source for the Tarot was an illustrated manuscript on the 2nd coming of Christ and Armageddon. That's the closest I've seen to a serious suggestion that the original iconography was christian in nature.
The Book of Revelations may very well be the source of the 2nd half of the Tarot sequence but the earlier Trumps vary enough that Revelations doesn't apply with the same specificity. The Dance of Death motifs show a procession of people from different walks of life that is similar to the first cards in the deck. Then we have the Virtues and Fate. So, it seems an amalgam of loosely related themes.

As to whether the deck was Christian or not - definitely not in the sense of an authorized book of prayer, but there was no such thing at the time as a separation of Christian or not or religious or not as we have in a secular society. Everything was seen through a Christian perspective - there was no other way to see.
 

aimeedanger

christian perspective

What do you mean by Christian perspective, though? I think that if your definition of that differs greatly from mine, we could disagree and not realize we're actually agreeing. I mean, christian perspective is a pretty subjective combination, they're both extremely open-ended words, especially when trying to view the Christianity of that time period through the lens of the Christianity of this time period.

I have another book written by Gertrude Moakley in which she theorizes that the allegorical origin of the Tarot is the Carnival (Mardi Gras to us) parades of Italy that were themselves descendants of the Triumphi parades of Rome. Notice some of the art from that time that was referenced in that article were the Triumph of Death and the Triumph of... strength? I can't remember. But neither of those were Christian... they were Roman representations transported into Renaissance Italy through their revival of classic Greek icons - but THROUGH THEIR FILTER. The triumph parades were never more than a bunch of generals parading the spoils of war through Rome before they presented it all to the state.

Moakley's theory is spoiled by the placement of a few cards that were never featured in the parades such as the Popess and the Fool.
 

Teheuti

What do you mean by Christian perspective, though? ...
Moakley's theory is spoiled by the placement of a few cards that were never featured in the parades such as the Popess and the Fool.
You'll find that the Fool is central to her argument as her evidence suggests that a similar figure was part of the Renaissance triumphal parades.

Definitely, Christian has to be understood from the pov of the late medieval and early Italian Renaissance. It is possible to get a sense of what that was by trips to Northern Italy, focusing on the locations and time-periods most connected with Tarot - as much Tarot-like art still remains, and also by reading a lot of Italian literature from the time and histories of the period. It is not totally beyond our capacities to get some feel for the mind set.

The Cathedral of Siena is a good example of how they incorporated pagan myth and stories into a totally Christian framework. One enters through a pagan temple, is greeted by Hermes Trismegistus and then walks between a set of ancient Pagan Sybils until one reaches the Wheel of Fortune inaugurating a great turn, into the time of Christ.
 

Debra

Just look at the Wolfegg Hausbuch, which includes "the children of the planets."

Start here: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=938348

and quoting from that thread:

For those of you who would like a closer look, and some interesting art historical analysis, here are a few must-have books on the Housebook:

Venus and Mars: The World of the Medieval Housebook
by Christoph Graf zu Waldburg Wolfegg, 1998
(Nice repro quality, several in color. Excellent text.)

The Medieval Housebook & The Art of Illustration
by Timothy B. Husband, 1999
(Exhibition catalog. Good text, but all B&W and smaller format repros.)

The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, or the Housebook Master, ca 1470-1500
compiled by J.P. Filedt Kok, 1985
(In-depth scholarly study concentrates on all known engravings by the artist, along with the Housebook, drawings, paintings and other works. Mostly B&W. A few in color.)