Trionfi (cards)

Da Tortona's deck

In a letter dated 11 November 1449, Jacopo Antonio Marcello used the expression triumphorum genus for a deck produced sometime between 1418 and 1425,^[4][5] commissioned by the duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, painted by Michelino da Besozzo, and described in an accompanying text by Martiano da Tortona, the namesake of the city's patron saint, Marcian of Tortona, his account being the second-earliest description of the configuration of a pack of cards in Europe, after John of Rheinfelden's late 14th century treatise^[6] attesting to the existence of a four-color deck.^[7][8]

While the deck itself is lost, Marcello provided a copy of da Tortona's description, offering details about the deck, along with a cursory explanation of how to play it.^[7][9] It likely had a total of 60 cards (four kings, forty pip cards and sixteen trumps), its forty-four plain-suited cards using birds for suit signs ("of virtues, the eagle; of riches, the phoenix; of continence, the turtledove; of pleasure, the dove", see animal tarot), and its trumps portraying sixteen Roman or Greek gods (in descending order: the Twelve Olympians, with Bacchus replacing Vulcan instead of Vesta, the latter being both fire gods; followed by Hercules, Aeolus, Daphne, and Cupid).^[9]

In two of the suits (phoenices and doves), the pip cards are in reverse order, as in many of the oldest card games, a ranking also found in Tarot, Triomphe, Ombre, Maw, Unsun Karuta, Madiao, Khanhoo, Tổ tôm, and Ganjifa. The suits do not have any "right over another," each trump being associated with a suit, in alternating descending order of eagle, phoenix, turtledove, and dove,^[9] making it the only tarot to exhibit such a feature.

Sforza's deck

Two 70-card decks dated to June 1457, relating to Galeazzo Maria Sforza's visit at Ferrara the following month,^[11] the modern Tarot deck typically consisting of 78 cards altogether.

Boiardo's deck

The first mention of a 78-card deck^[g] was in a poem by Matteo Maria Boiardo of Ferrara, written between 1461–1494. While the deck was structured like modern tarots, its motifs and suits signs were totally different, using classical figures for its trumps and face cards. Pier Antonio Viti of Urbino (c. 1470–1500), brother of Timoteo Viti, provided a commentary on Boiardo's poem, as well as rules of play. He likely commissioned the production of these decks, of which two incomplete packs have survived, both the rules and the deck likely constituting conscious departures from common trionfi decks.^[13]

Dummett's classification

The order of the trumps varied by region, perhaps as early as the 1440s. Michael Dummett placed them into three categories. In Bologna and Florence, the highest trump is the Angel, followed by the World. This group spread mainly southward through the Papal States, the Kingdom of Naples, and finally down to the Kingdom of Sicily but was also known in the Savoyard states. In Ferrara, the World was the highest, followed by Justice and the Angel. This group spread mainly to the northeast to Venice and Trento, where it was only a passing fad, becoming extinct by the end of the 16th century. In Milan, the World was the highest, followed by the Angel. This spread to Switzerland and France during the Italian Wars, becoming famous as the Tarot of Marseilles.^[14][15]

Tarocchi

The earliest known appearance of the word Tarocho as the new name for the game is in Brescia around 1502.^[16] Tarochi was used in June 1505 in Ferrara. In December 1505, Taraux decks are mentioned as being produced in the papal enclave of Avignon in France.^[17] Around this time, the word trionfi seems to modify its character in a playing card context; it appears as a game of its own (Rabelais knows a Tarau and a Triumphe game) and seems no longer connected to the specific allegorical cards. This is most likely due to the popularity of Trionfa, which usurped the old name. The word taroch was used as a synonym for foolishness in the same period.^[18]

Handmade

There are around 15 Visconti-Sforza tarot decks made for the rulers of Milan. These are the best preserved:

• The Cary-Yale deck is estimated to have been produced for the marriage of Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza in October 1441
• The Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo deck (estimated to be produced 1452) possibly relates to a trionfo in Milan, August 1453
• The Brera-Brambilla deck made for Francesco Sforza

The following decks were made in Florence:^[19][20]

• The Castello Ursino deck made for Alessandro Sforza
• The de Gaignières deck by the same artist as the one above, mistakenly attributed to Charles VI of France^[21]
• The Rothschild-Bassano deck, half of the pack survive but only one trump remains
• The Ercole d'Este deck in the Cary Collection^[22]

Uncut sheets

• The Cary sheet (c.1500) along with the six Novati cards (c.1600) found in Sforza Castle, Milanese ancestor to the Tarot of Marseilles^[23]
• The Budapest-Met sheets, examples of Ferrarese tarocchi (c.1500) which died out around 1600^[24]
• The Rothschild-Beaux Arts sheets, the earliest known Tarocco Bolognese cards (late 15th/early 16th century)
• The Rosenwald sheets, early Florentine tarots (late 15th century) before their development into Minchiate^[25]
• Various Portuguese-suited sheets and cards from the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples; a relative of the Sicilian tarot

Decks with classical motifs

• At least two incomplete decks inspired by Boiardo's poem
• The copper-engraved Sola Busca tarot, late 15th century, only deck with all 78 cards intact
• The Leber deck held in the Municipal Library of Rouen, early 16th century
• The Cicognara deck is lost but a few cards were copied, possibly created by the same person who made the Leber deck