Tarot of the masters [Vacchetta]

Rose Lalonde

I have the Meneghello on the way from AlidaStore, and this thread has been great reading, so many thanks for the info! :D

(There's an edition from Siro painted by Elizarraras called Tarot Renacentista de Giovanni Vacchetta, and I just discovered that -- of course! -- it's already been covered here in this thread.)
 

earthair

Please could someone tell me what the shape on king swords, 6 coins, 8 coins, 5 cups etc is? It's recurring in so many cards and I have no idea!
 

earthair

Also, what is the Christmas cracker shaped object on the following cards - 3 coins, 7 coins, 9 coins, death?
 

MissChiff

I want this deck so much.... I love the colors, they look like watercolors. It is beautiful.
 

Nemia

I bought the Lo Scarabeo version (simply don't have the money to buy one of the more expensive versions). I dislike the border and the keywords, so I'll trim them off (after copying the keywords on a list so that I still have them somewhere if I wish to compare my own interpretations with them).

As a student, I wrote a paper about the Hypnerotomachia and was quite obsessed with it. As art historian specialized on medieval and Renaissance painting, the whole Pagan and Christian iconography thing really fascinates me, and I can't wait to dig in. Thank you for the excellent links and ideas given in this thread, it's wonderful to see so much knowledge accumulated here on AT.

I noticed that some of the cards may have inspired Robert Place - L'Impeso looks like St. Blandina in the Tarot of Saints (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f4/2b/9a/f42b9a42be81fac24281824f453ae4cb.jpg ), and also Luna reminds me of some cards... have to look them up again. Robert Place knows his tarot history, of course - I'll take out his books, too.

In short, I'm extremely happy with my purchase. I'm on a strict budget so I can fulfill my desire for historical decks only via mainstream purchases but I'm really grateful to Lo Scarabeo that they published so many wonderful decks over the years. I wish they'd re-publish also those that are OOP.

I'm so happy to hear that this is also a good reading deck. I always like to read with my decks, not only put them into a pretty bag and forget them.
 

shaveling

I missed these when they were originally posted, but for that it's worth:

Please could someone tell me what the shape on king swords, 6 coins, 8 coins, 5 cups etc is? It's recurring in so many cards and I have no idea!
Those are shields. It's easiest to see that in the King of Swords. On the Eight of Coins, the ornamental cord work is just formed into that outline. That shape of shield is particularly associated with Italian heraldry, and is called a horse-head shield.

Also, what is the Christmas cracker shaped object on the following cards - 3 coins, 7 coins, 9 coins, death?
I'm pretty sure that's an ornamental plaque, meant to carry an inscription, as on the Two of Cups or the Ace of Coins, and Three of Swords. Some of them are left blank, and just used an an ornament in the design. The shields are blank, too, without any real or imaginary coats of arms.

I don't think the thing hanging from Death's belt is one of these, though. I think it's probably a knife or some other tool in a sheath. Maybe it's the sharpening stone for his scythe.
 

dancing_moon

Thanks Shaveling and Nemia, the mystery of the Christmas crackers is finally solved. :D

Nemia, I hope you'll try reading with your deck soon. It's a true gem. :thumbsup: