I'm a Tarot geek, fascinated by the factual history and characteristic medieval allegory of this remarkable artifact. The bad news is that I'm not an art historian. My only credentials are having read most of the salient books on the subject and having a strong preference for facts over fiction. The good news is that I am not an apologist for occult, paranormal, or other New Age nonsense, nor a sucker for pseudo-historical fantasy. That has made me a skeptic among the true believers who dominate the online Tarot community. These are some of my musings.
Pichore's Remediis
The five images at the top of the page are from a 1503 French manuscript of Petrarch's De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae (BNF, MS. fr. 225). The artist was Jean Pichore (fl. 1500-1520), active in Paris and in Rouen, where Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, the archbishop, was one of his clients. The central allegory of the Tarot trump cycle shows the ups and downs of Fortune's Wheel: SUCCESS (Love & Chariot), REVERSAL (Time {or Asceticism} & Fortune herself), and DOWNFALL (Traitor & Death). As in Petrarch's Remedies these circumstances, which define the Fall of Princes storyline, are responded to with Virtue. Images are available via Mandragore and Gallica
Nah, just having a little fun in the vein of the Shepherd Fairey poster fad from the election cycle. I liked the double meaning, "just deal the cards", because he's a card player and Tarot was first and foremost a card game, and "just deal with it", referring to the many mundane truths about Tarot history.
LOL!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that I got scared, and had to run to his wikipedia entry to make sure you didn't know some bad news I hadn't heard yet.
Hi, Ross,
ReplyDeleteNah, just having a little fun in the vein of the Shepherd Fairey poster fad from the election cycle. I liked the double meaning, "just deal the cards", because he's a card player and Tarot was first and foremost a card game, and "just deal with it", referring to the many mundane truths about Tarot history.
mjh
I like it! Great job on this one. I've used it on my YouTube channel.
ReplyDelete