The "Soprafino Tarot" pattern

Re: This is the only source that I know

Mari wrote:
I'm doing slow aged tinting of watercolor and shading with delicate and unusual pens and pencils. I don't recommend this without some work on scans or experiments on similar paper or classes in your chosen media. Once you start with on the linen stock, if you don't have the right tools, you cannot 'revert' back to the delicate details or lift the stains...

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Hi Mari,

That is a wonderful idea for this deck! The cardstock it is printed on seems tough enough for just about any media, too, were one to paint right onto it. I would love to see scans as soon as you have a few of these cards painted!

Thanks also for the image links you are providing. I especially love the page with the large Soprafino images scanned by Vladimir Strannikov

http://www.gambler.ru/sukhty/decks05/d02380/d02380.htm

Thanks,

- Mark

felicityk wrote:
Finally, a possible explanation for the dinner plate underneath the lobster on The Moon (my least favorite Dellaroca element and one of the main reasons I prefer the Dotti).

Tzaddi

Banquet dish, Plate -- TzVOH, TzOA, TzOH, TzLChTh
Plate of fried fish -- TzChNH, TzLY

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Hi felicityk,

I saw your post several days ago and, intending to comment, went back to look up these words once more. Now I'm scratching my head . . . I cannot find "Plate of fried fish" in any of my sources so I've removed that term from the list of words on my Tarocchino Milanese web page. "Banquet dish; plate" remains. I apologize to all for the error.

(Let me reassure that every Hebrew word in both the Marseilles and Soprafino lists were double-checked several times using multiple sources.
I've tried to be as accurate and careful as possible but, as in this instance, errors are sometimes missed.)

I'm still quite convinced that the presence of the Hebrew word for "banquet dish" is the best explanation for this Dellarocca innovation.

Thanks,

- Mark

...another "bump" for my friend who just got the Tarocco Soprafino

General timeline of the cardmakers --Avondo, Dotti, Di Gumppenberg & Lamperti.

1. Avondo Brothers for Ancient Italian Tarot.

A very late response, but I finally located the Encyclopedia of the Tarot reference of the deck on page 158 of Kaplan in Volume I.

The description is "Fanciful Tarot Pack" from the Avondo Brothers of Serravalle-Sessia.

In Volume II of Kaplan's Encyclopedia, the dates for them are 1860-1880, page 219.

2. Dotti of Milan (di Gumppenberg's close rivals)

Volume II of the Encyclopedia of the Tarot dates Eduardo Dotti as born 1836 to 1865 and Teodoro Dotti of Milan to 1805-1855, page 220.

3. Di Gumppenberg information from the Il Solleone deck is in this related thread:

Ferdinando Gumppenberg

Born Jan 3, 1788 from Franco and Caterina Sala. It says born to Monaco of Baveria, Monoco being a city-state, Baveria being the country in 1788?

1805-1809--Apprenticed in the art of cards press (printers) in the important Fabbicante di Monaco

1809--Enlightenment, the Regia Fabbrica (regional maker?) of the cards transfers to Milan---I believe this is within Napoleon's reign, near the end.

Cerulean Mari's note: I also believe that one of the historical events that might have influenced the making of the Neoclassical of 1811 might have been the birth of Napoleon's son in March of 1811, known as the "King of Rome" and crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.* (Di Gumppenberg did issue a later deck in celebration of Emporer Ferdinand)

1809-1814 Produces numerous original cards.

1810, 1811 "Tarocco Neoclassico Italiano," Milano - (Note Kaplan suggests 1806 or thereabouts in dating). My copy is reprinted in 1980 in an edition of 1,500. (Pattern I)

1812 Marries Marianna Pohl

1814 Liquidation of the Regia Fabbrica di Milano.

Cerulean Mari's note: Possibly this means that the card-making is no longer controlled regionally or restricted or the designation from Napoleon's 'restriction' was lifted and now competition from other Milanese cardmakers

1814, July--Gumppenberg initiates activity near the Giardino (either the garden district?)

1816? I have to translate this note

1820 - note related to the bottega di Caffe in Borgo di Cittadella

1820 "Il Dilettevole Giuoco del Cucco,"41 cards, stamped 1820, to 1846. Il Solleone published 1,500 copies in 1981. (Cerulean has never seen this set).

1820-25--produces "Tarocco Vedute e Meistieri de Milano"...alternative name of Trade Sites of Milan Tarocco..(Pattern 2) Il Solleone published 1000 copies in 1982.

1825 --Printer negotiates in Corsia del Giadino "sono in vendita anche biglietti della Lotteria"...

1835 (1830-45)--"Tarocchino Lombardo". One woodcut version could be the one in limited colors reproduced by Il Meneghello/De Vecci, mass market edition. A somewhat different edition from Lo Scarabeo, called the Lamperti, was issued in 22 majors only. (I call this part of Pattern 3)

Il Solleone's note: engraved by Carlo Dellarocca around 1835, and then the Italian note"...dal Gumppenberg, dal Lamperti e altri in Milano e Lombardia"--note correction below on Lamperti note in 1847. Lamperti is his son-in-law.

Il Solleone published their version of the Dellarocca designs in in 1981 in a limited edition of 2,000. Dating is also between 1835-1845.

We know this title as the Tarocco Italiano Soprafino with engravings by Carlo della Rocca. (Pattern 4)

Given this information, the mysterious beautiful additions to the Dellarocca designs might have been innovations by Lamperti and Dellarocca?

1838-40 Produces "Tarocco Della Corona Ferrea" (Pattern 5)

Iron Crown of Lombardy Tarocco * from Edizioni del Solleone, reprinted 2,500 copies, 1979.

(Link is to Iron Crown of Lombardy summary that mentions Napoleon and Ferdinand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclo...own-of-Lombardy

1847-He concedes the printmaking in general to Lattanzio Lamperti, the spouse of his daughter Paola. Lamperti circa 1848-1861 (Last two dates from reference, Kaplan pages 314, Volume II)

1855- Dies after 67 years.

late addition ...

Hi all,

Since I just joined yesterday, I hope you won't mind if I take a kick at a thread that may be considered long dead.

I purchased the Il Meneghello version of the Soprafino deck a month or two ago, and am blown away by it. In particular, the World, the Sun and the King of Coins are my favourites.

But what I wanted to share is a link that shows scans from this actual deck. I noticed that most of the links included here are for the Classical Tarot, which not only has very slight differences in colouring, but also the yucky (IMO) wide multilingual Lo Scarabeo borders.

http://arcanes.narod.ru/decks/soprafino/soprafin.htm

(BTW, please bear with me if I'm unable to include this as a live clickable link)

The page is slow as anything to load, and all in Russian (cyrillic alphabet and all), but I've been comparing the images with that of my real, live deck and it paints a pretty true picture. The physical deck, I should add in its defense, is a little brighter and clearer! At the bottom of the page, the four links are to Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins, in that order.

Enjoy!
QofP

.... the link is slow and in Russian language

The deck is also in the Tarot Museum

http://trionfi.com/01/j/i/gambler_ru/d02380.htm

Thanks, Huck. I did warn you about the speed and the language! And I included this link for anyone who is interested in the Il Meneghello Soprafino, as opposed to the Lo Scarabeo Classical Tarot.

QofP

QueenofPentacles said:

Thanks, Huck. I did warn you about the speed and the language! And I included this link for anyone who is interested in the Il Meneghello Soprafino, as opposed to the Lo Scarabeo Classical Tarot.

QofP

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Oops, sorry, I didn't realize that there is a fine difference ... "Modern" decks are not my favoured topic, please excuse.

Hi Huck,

I can tell from your work on the Trionfi site and Tarot museum that you are something of an expert on historical Tarot (the site is fascinating, BTW, I can get lost in it for hours!).

You're right that the difference between the 2 is very fine. The drawings are the same, even the colouring is almost identical. The Classical is a little brighter, I think, whereas the Soprafino aimed for an older feel. Anyone interested in actually subjecting their deck to hard use would be better off with the more durable and flexible Classical, and a couple hours with scissors and a steady hand would fix the borders if they share my opinion in that matter

Personally, while I am fascinated by the artwork and the history behind such decks, I don't read well without illustrated pips, so I splurged on the Soprafino. My 2 cents in this thread is based on my nit-picking preference.

Quick caveat: I don't actually HAVE the Classical, but this is based on my opinons of the images I've seen online (Huck's link above takes you there) and my experience with other Lo Scarabeo historical reproductions.

QofP

Thanks for the compliments, it always is pleasure to meet somebody, who enjoyed the site. But trionfi.com is created by a group process, and I'm only on the outside to do some public relations and the history forum of aeclectic is one of few places in the web, which have a real focus on tarot history. And I engage a little bit in Tarot-News and Tarot Museum (although the real content of the Museum is worked out by Alexander Sukhorukow, a Russian cards collector with a lot of enthusiasm for his hobby).
So often people think, it's "my site", but it's a group site and the dedication of the site is to organize the energies of various persons to reach a really good representation of Tarot history in the web and to refine the publical imagination of the origin of Tarot - usually by just presenting and exploring connected "facts". A research-adventure, in the moment mainly focused on Tarot in 15th century and it's quite insecure, if we will ever reach reach the 16th ...... with some fun for more than one person, and others are invited to participate.
Once existed (or still exists ?) a site "Queen of Pentacles" ... do you've anything to do with it?