Rusty Neon
The 1760 Conver has, relatively speaking, quite good quality woodcut images.
On the other hand, other decks of similar vintage -- e.g., the Viéville deck and the 1701 Dodal TdM -- have noticeably less-skillfully executed woodcut images. In those decks, the image details (especially in the pip cards) are not symmetrical and balanced where they should be. Round shapes come off as ovals or as irregular circles.
I'm curious why (compared to the 1760 Conver), those other woodcut images (e.g., the Viéville and Dodal) are less-skillfully executed. Is the 1760 Conver just a pleasant exception? Is it a question of difficulty of wood cutting? Does it have anything to do with time and effort? Perhaps, for financial reasons, the artists didn't want to spend too much time on images that are a large set (78) of images that in total would not sell for much? One can especially see that the woodcut quality in the Viéville and Dodal drop off dramatically in the numbered minor arcana (yet the quality of the numbered minor arcana in the Conver is almost on par with that of the major arcana and court cards).
Thanks for any replies.
On the other hand, other decks of similar vintage -- e.g., the Viéville deck and the 1701 Dodal TdM -- have noticeably less-skillfully executed woodcut images. In those decks, the image details (especially in the pip cards) are not symmetrical and balanced where they should be. Round shapes come off as ovals or as irregular circles.
I'm curious why (compared to the 1760 Conver), those other woodcut images (e.g., the Viéville and Dodal) are less-skillfully executed. Is the 1760 Conver just a pleasant exception? Is it a question of difficulty of wood cutting? Does it have anything to do with time and effort? Perhaps, for financial reasons, the artists didn't want to spend too much time on images that are a large set (78) of images that in total would not sell for much? One can especially see that the woodcut quality in the Viéville and Dodal drop off dramatically in the numbered minor arcana (yet the quality of the numbered minor arcana in the Conver is almost on par with that of the major arcana and court cards).
Thanks for any replies.