The Deification of Sixteen Heroes - Marziano Tarot deck and book

[Diana]

Received an email this morning from Tarot Heritage. To whet you appetite, I'm copying the first few paragraphs. For the rest, I'll give you the link which is here : https://tarot-heritage.com/2019/08/26/t ... en-heroes/

The legendary “da Tortona” deck, grandfather of all tarocchi/tarot decks, is now accessible thanks to a small but incredibly rich book by Ross G. Caldwell and Marco Ponzi; and a recreated deck by Robert Place, The Marziano Tarot.

About 1420, the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, asked his secretary and advisor, commonly known as Marziano da Tortona, to invent a card game. Marziano created the Game of Sixteen Deified Heroes, a deck of cards with four suits numbered ace to ten and an extra suit of illustrated cards – the same format as the game of trionfi/tarocchi/tarot invented about 15 years later.

Four of Phoenix from The Marziano TarotThe four suits are types of birds: eagle, phoenix, dove and turtledove, with just one court card, a king. Four cards of classical deities and heroes like Juno, Apollo and Hercules are appended to each suit, totaling 16 extra cards. Marziano wrote a book of stories and moral lessons based on each of the sixteen figures, with descriptions to guide the artist in creating the actual deck. This is one model for how the game of trionfi was invented – a courtier devising an allegorical card game to amuse his aristocratic patron.



Enjoy the rest of the article and the other links provided on that page.

[Papageno]

I just received this deck from Robert M. Place, and I'm still waiting for the book from Lulu Press.

The artwork is, of course, nothing short of breathtaking.
I imagine the book will be very intense reading, but what better collaboration could one ask for between an artist and author(s).

[Belenus]

I have both the deck and the book. They are equally amazing and wonderful! Enjoy!!

Belenus