Tarot History Forum

debra wrote:That's interesting, Steve. Thanks. I didn't know this had a name--I think of it as "wishful revisionism."

marco wrote:I have found here:
http://www.edizionimartina.com/edizioni ... ti/316.asp
a quote from the "Discorso sopra l'ordine delle figure dei Tarocchi" (Discourse about the order of the Tarot images) written by Francesco Piscina and published in 1565.

Of course, it is a "late" source, but here it is:

Francesco Piscina (1565) wrote:"...considerando la mente dell'Inventore diciamo egli haver voluto in queste soe figure di mostrare, molti Morali ammaestramenti, e sotto qualche difficoltà morder i cativi e pestiferi costumi, & insegnare quante attieni hoggidi fuori del diritto & onesto governare, & al contrario del dovere, e giusto maneggiare siano, per il che evidentemente non solo ha dimostrato essere buono e fedel seguace della Cattolica e Cristiana fede, ma eziamdio molto esperto & eccellente de i costumi della vita Civile, Poscia che di ventidoe figure che ha posto & eletto non vi sia pur una che ben ponderata non apporti seco grandissima e profondissima consideratione

Thinking of the mind of the inventor, we can say he wanted to illustrate with his images many moral lessons. In difficult times, he also wanted to condemn bad habits, teaching about things that are carried on out of right and honest rules, in contradiction with duty and the correct way to behave. So he proved to be not only a good and loyal follower of the Christian Catholic faith, but also an excellent expert of the facts of civil life. Of the twenty-two figures he chose, there is none that, if one meditates on it, does not carry with itself the greatest and deepest meaning.

Marco