Tarocchi

1467

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Tarocchi is a 1467 by Master of the E-Series Tarocchi, a Renaissance work, depicting Ferrara, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Master of the E-Series Tarocchi
When & what style?: 1467 · Renaissance
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see fifty small black-and-white prints laid out like a deck of cards. Each one shows a person or a planet in simple line work. These weren’t just playing cards. A teacher in 1400s Italy used them to explain the whole universe—from beggars to God—as a ladder you could climb. The artist drew every rung, one card at a time. Look up more prints from the subject: italy, ferrara, 15th century.

The story of this work

Overview

Scholars generally agree that this set of 50 engravings was an educational tool, perhaps devised by a humanist scholar to visually describe a fifteenth-century philosophical model of the cosmos. It was believed that the universe was a ladder-like structure that began with the beggar and rose through the ranks of humankind, the muses, the liberal arts, the virtues, and the planets, until it finally reached the pinnacle, the dwelling place of God. Reflecting this order, the engravings can be divided into five groups distinguished by the letters E, D, C, B, A, respectively marking the Conditions…

Did you know?

The Italian word tarocchi (tarot) refers to a gambling game; though once thought to describe the function of this set of engravings, today it is understood to be a misnomer.

Read the full account in the museum source.