Tarot History Forum

Thank you very much! Cocchi is a very nice deck... I suppose it was made by Bembo. Is it crazy to think something like that?

The matto card that Vitali mentions seems not to be in Amedeo Cocchi's collection but I don't know where it is kept or where Vitali has seen it, who hasn't answered me. Is the matto copied from Pierpont mentioned in that book?

The other two Cocchi cards belong to another deck, although Cocchi keeps them. I suppose those two cards are not explained in the book with the measurements and to see if the stroke is also of quality.

Thank you!!

The problem with Bembo, if you mean Bonifacio, is that the PMB Sun card is not in the style of the Bembo "first artist". It was recently attributed, by "consensus" to Franco de' Russi, who would have been in Venice or Padua. See Ross's post at viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2321&p=24851. The same identification was made in 1997, for which see my post of 15 years ago at viewtopic.php?p=6422#p6422.

But his whereabouts in ca. 1470 are not secure and there are artists of that time in Lombardy with a similar style, such as the "Third Bessarion master", for which see the end of my post just referenced. Others are at viewtopic.php?p=4912#p4912, including Dummett's candidate for the artist, Benedetto Bembo.

In de' Russi's favor, the "first artist" cards seem to have been made for someone in Venice, based on the Venetian Lion on the King of Swords. But it also might be that the PMB card is the copy. The PMB's provenance may not have been studied sufficiently in light of the clones.

Thanks Mike

The question about the two commissions and the two artists of the Visconti Pierpont Deck is interesting. Thanks for the information about possible artists of the second commission and artist. I hope to study your links.

As for the Visconti Pierpont, it seems important to me to solve the mystery about the shield of the ace of pentacles, which is also similar in two knight cards. Possibly the ace of pentacles is from the second artist and the knights are from the first. We talked about it in another thread:

viewtopic.php?p=26676#p26676

There I present my latest reflections and questions. Maybe your debate can be there. Thanks.

As for the Cocchi cards, indeed the Cocchi sun is by the same artist as the other two Cocchi cards. In pierpont the sun is by the second artist. That's true. I also think that perhaps Pierpont was not the original copy but a copy. So I wonder if maybe Cocchi or Bonomi are the original copy. In any case, I wonder if the three beautiful Cocchi cards that you have shown could be painted by Bonifacio Bembo since they seem to me to be of good quality, on par with the first Pierpont commission or even better and obviously much superior to the second Pierpont commission. Those three cards along with a Matto mentioned by Vitalli belonged to a nice deck. In case you have seen the other Cocchi cards, I ask: are they equally beautiful or of another style and artist with low quality?

Thanks !!

PD: Probably bembo is beter...

I discovered a video that Ross posted in a comment on the Facebook group about tarot history. By the way, that group seems to be overcrowded because I don't have permission to comment on posts. It's a bit frustrating for me to read without being able to speak in that group. This is the link to the wonderful video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cpuExc ... 4wM5FKBT9g

For me, it's important to discover that the Rosenthal cards reappeared in 2016, thanks to which there are color photographs of them. The biscione that Depaulis shows in the video (00:54 - 01:12) is a photo toke by Notre Dame University. I imagine they bought that card at the 2016 auction. The other photographs appear to be from the auctioneer. Please correct me if I misunderstood. I believe the Emperor is the only card that didn't reappear in 2016.

I would like to find out if, thanks to the 2016 reappearance, we now have the measurements of the Rosenthal cards, which are made up of several groups of different sizes. If we find out the size of a card, we can deduce the rest from Kaplan's photo. If we get all the measurements obtained in the 2016 auction, it will be even better. We know that Rosenthal cards are not authentic, but they are probably copied from old, original cards from Italy. I don't know if the forger was faithful in copying the size of each card, but it's interesting to know the measurements of each Rosenthal card to assess the possibility that they represent the original sizes, as that helps distinguish the different original decks. It would also be good to know the color of each Rosenthal back.

Magic Moon wrote: 13 Mar 2025, 22:30 I discovered a video that Ross posted in a comment on the Facebook group about tarot history. By the way, that group seems to be overcrowded because I don't have permission to comment on posts. It's a bit frustrating for me to read without being able to speak in that group.

What is your name on the Facebook group? I am the only administrator, and I haven't disabled anyone's ability to comment on posts.

I'll check your profile to see if anything unusual has happened.