The Sola Busca deck was probably created in Ferrara in the 1470s or 1480s. The poems were published in Venice in 1523 and the cards were illustrated by Maurizio Bonora in 1995. The cards of the four suits – Eyes, Whips, Darts and Vases – are described by three-line poems conveying a sometimes cynical message about love.

His trumps were named after human conditions like Idleness, Reason, Desire and Secrecy. In 1465, Count Matteo Maria Boiardo of Ferrara used Tarot to comment on the nature of love. A few of these decks have survived in museums, and reproductions are available for collectors. Wealthy aristocrats commissioned one-of-a kind decks that used the tarot structure for expressing their personal interests, much as tarot artists do today. Tarot’s formative years, from about 1440 to 1475, were a golden age of tarot creativity. For instance, the Star card could depict an astronomer, the Magi following the star of Bethlehem, or a woman holding up a star but the card was easily recognizable as illustrating the concept of Star. They all had the same twenty-two images we’re familiar with, and no other. From the start, all tarot decks exhibited a great deal of consistency. Since trump cards didn’t have numbers or names printed on them, we can’t be certain of their order or what people called each card.Įarly tarot images may seem exotic to us, but they were very familiar to 15 th century card players from wall frescoes, illustrated books, plays and pageants. By the late 15 th century, tarot had settled into the structure we’re familiar with today: twenty-two illustrated trump cards, and four suits with fourteen cards each, including four court cards: king, queen, knight and page.

Trionfieu playing card queen