In his paper about “The Master of the Sola-Busca Tarocchi”, Mark Zucker says that Eberhard Ruhmer attributes the deck to Marco Zoppo, but this attribution has not been considered as reliable. I have found the Italian translation of Ruhmer's book, and I have taken a few images of sketches from Marco Zoppo's sketch book (British Museum).

On this Tarotpedia page, I propose a parallel with Sola Busca cards:
http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Marco_Zo ... Sola_Busca

Zucker seems to consider very important the trees and landscapes that are typical of the Sola Busca Master. Such elements are missing in Marco Zoppo, but I think that the general “mood” of the sketches is very similar to that of the cards. This is much more true for Zoppo than for Cosme Tura. Ruhmer writes that “the style of Marco Zoppo has something ironic, almost burlesque, wild and sensually playful, bold and almost obscene”. This description is appropriate both from the British Museum sketches and for the Sola Busca cards.

Actually, what Ruhmer seems to suggest is that the engravings were based on sketches by Zoppo but they were not executed by Marco Zoppo himself (who was not an engraver).

Marco Zoppo was born in 1433. He worked in Padua, together with Cosme Tura, in the workshop of Francesco Squarcione. Most of his activity is documented in Bologna and Venice, were he died in 1478.

Marco

marco wrote: Actually, what Ruhmer seems to suggest is that the engravings were based on sketches by Zoppo but they were not executed by Marco Zoppo himself (who was not an engraver).

That is the feeling that I had looking at the images Marco, that they were based on Zoppo, but not by the artist himself. Zoppo has a finer hand, a softer touch, and is less likely to exaggerate.

I would agree there is some sort of relationship, but not that they are of the same hand. Thanks for the thread, I'll be curious to hear what others think.