Here is a page with portraits of a lot of Popes - http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/95popes/default.htm Indeed it can be seen that some Popes wore full beards, others were beardless, and sometimes it was just bit of a goatee. I think the Tarot's images should be considered "fantasy" images,...

Here is a Jesus that resembles the Viéville and the Noblet/Dodal types, from the Church of St. Jacques (James) in my town of Béziers. I couldn't find a date anywhere on the retable (which I think is the right name for it, behind the altar against the east wall, used for keeping the reserve host (the...

They may have been called 'four papi' (or four moors) but the image Robert shows above has always appeared to me that this is a mis-appelation: Cards three and four have, as in the standard Tarot de Marseille, IMPERIAL , NOT papal, crowns, and are thus Empress and Emperor (or at worst, two emperors...

The point is that it is a Crossier s Bishop,so not a Pope insignia... The triple tiara or "triregno" makes him the Pope, as does the title of the card. The Pope is Bishop of Rome. Whether he decides to hold a crozier or processional cross seems irrelevant to who he is. More difficult are ...

Hello Mary ... Again as I said earlier : Thierry Depaulis in the catalogue "Jeu Tarot et Magie" said that the deck of François Tourcaty of 1770,was used intentionally for divination purpose prior to the French Revolution. Where are you getting this from Eugim? The 1984 catalogue doesn't s...

Great topic Robert! Another aspect of the Bolognese tradition is that it is the earliest recorded divinatory system with a tarot, which is pure cartomancy and doesn't involve esotericism. They don't use the whole deck though. The deck in reduced form (ross??) is usually referred to as the "Taro...

I have taken it to be "fame alone", reminiscient of the phrase "per fama sol" (by fame/reputation alone). It occurs in a few 16th century poetic compositions that way.This one is from an Emblemata collection, talking about the vanity and fleetingness of life (and so seems appropr...

She is also related to Divine Providence, but that's another story... Ross? This was more of a suggestion for the Cary Yale "World", a few steps removed from my preferred interpretation of her, as Fama. Michael and I had a discussion about this a couple of months ago, and it produced a fe...

I should note also that Robert made a discovery regarding the Cary Sheet - the seven and eight (?) of Batons at the bottom right seem to be glued in.

So it's really Cary "Sheets" - if they are even part of the same style of cards, which might be an open question.

Thanks Ross. The point is as follows. 1+-Catelin has it. / TdP also. 2-Visconti has not 3-Tdm has it * So how consider a Milanese pattern instead here of a Ferrarese ? Just empirically, since the B/Eastern order has it, the latern is not necessarily a particularity of non-Italian packs. No one that...