The Medieval Tarot by Luigi Scapini

A heavy-weight deck, full of meanings and deeply rooted in ancient designs and worldviews.

Made for U.S Games Systems in 1984, the deck reproduces Cary-Yale and Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo cards collections, which group some of the Visconti-Sforza's Tarot cards from the XV c.¹. The latter represents the Renaissance noble class of Mylan, especially the members of the Visconti and Sforza families. Although no complete deck of that Tarot has survived over time, the designs have influenced the visual composition, numeration and perspective of modern decks. Scapini's deck came out from those representations as well as from Mantegna's Tarot worldview.

The Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo cards collection was made in 1451, approximately. Like the Ace of Cups and the Knight of Swords display, Scapini's minor arcana (Ace to X) are all painted in creme color and include flowers and vineyards designs. Scapini's major arcana and court figures also show golden backgrounds which follow a 3-row and 3-column grid, always with that background wall and a floor, as it can be appreciated in the Knight of the collection (exceptions are The World XXI, with no ground, and the Queen of coins, the only card with two backgrounds).

Charity card of Mantegna's Tarot. It belongs to group B (geniouses and virtues). All of the virtues are next to an animal figure (a pelycan in card 38, that nurtures its pups with its own blood).

About the Mantegna's Tarot, it seems it had inspired The Medieval Tarot's (TMT) drawings, too. But the Mantegna is based on a specific worldview, with cards motives going much beyond Scapini's Tarot mundane life. The Mantegna was made between 1465 and 1470 (contemporary to Visconti-Sforza's deck) and has been attributed to Andrea Mantegna, Baccio Baldini (goldsmith and engraver) and other artists related to Francesco del Cossa (all of them from the Italian School of Ferrara). The school's style in the Renaissance Age displayed emaciated bodies and faces, of static and painful expressions.

Mantegna's deck is made of two series of 50 cards each, grouped in 5 sets according to the subjects they refer to. Group A (cards 41 to 50) refers to the 7 planets known by those times, the octave sphere (fixed stars), the Primum Mobile (First Cause) and the Prima Causa (God). Group B (cards 31 to 40) portrays geniuses and virtues. Group C (cards 21 to 30) reflects the 7 liberal arts, along with Philosophy, Poetry and Theology. Group D (cards 11 to 20) shows the 9 muses of arts and Apollo. And Group E (cards 1 to 10) represents the medieval social hierarchy, from beggar to Emperor and Pope.

About the groups, Adam McLean in An Hermetic Origin of the Tarot Cards? says they represent the relation between the Macro-cosmos (Group A) and Micro-cosmos (Group E). The other groups are pathways of development, inspiration and transmutation. In his article, McLean includes each group composition, with specific symbols and associations, and also offers a brief comparison with modern cards, for instance by pairing the Artisan of the medieval social hierarchy (card 3, Group E) with The Magician.

Mantegna's worldview can be traced in Scapini's deck, which will be better seen later in this article. Anyway, TMT includes other types of elements all over the deck, and repeatedly, such as tulips and waxing moons. But beyond those recurrences, each card holds within a profusion of elements of different kinds, whose details and drawings are described in the deck guidebook: Renaissance paintings, gods from different regions, temples, cathedrals and monasteries, biblical scenes, characters related to the Renaissance Venice, medieval legends, Greek myths, saints, animals of all kinds (real and fantastic ones), cabbalistic symbols, Rasputin, Pope Leo X, Marco Polo, oracles, yin-yang and several nuns, just to mention some elements!

Among all of them, there're two strange references out of the deck's time: a sportsman with a racquet and visor in the 7 of Rods, and a Ku Klux Klan's procession in the Queen of Swords. Although these elements are mentioned in the guidebook, it doesn't tell the reason why they have been included in a deck of medieval inspiration.

Duality

It's a perspective widely present in the cards' designs and concepts. And, along with a lot of biblical references, any reading should start from considering falls and ascensions. Duality is also appreciated, for instance, in the color distribution and yin-yang principles attached to sex characteristics: golden is male and silver is female, and the Two of Swords considers yin as female and as opposite to male yang. All of this can be also seen in some other specific cards:

• The Popess II includes the representation of a demonic serpent offering an apple from one of the columns, which is supported by a black sphynx that, at the same time, represents the female side in life.
• The Pope V includes representations of vices in the inferior area of the card, which are considered as sins to be defeated for triumphing over them.
• The Lovers VI represent vices and virtues either, the first ones associated to a pathway of sunny pleasure, and the second ones to a pathway of hard ground.
• The Chariot VII clearly opposes spirituality to sensuality, and thinks of them as two mpulses in human nature, which have to be controlled and harmonized. This is represented by two horses, one white and the other one black, one of them oriented upwards and the other downwards, with tails forming a kind of a winged seed when joined.
• Temperance XIV shows again the separation of sexes in the colors and symbols drawn on vessels (Sun and golden for male, Moon and silver for female); the winged figure holding them is androgynous, which means the union of opposites happens in spiritual spheres, after ascending, and not in the mundane, sensual and physical experience.
• The World XXI assigns stars to the angel and the eagle (upper area of the card), whereas flames are on fire in the mundane lion and bull (inferior area).
• The Ace of Coins displays a main figure: a boy with a red band (Rods) enclosing his body and covering his eyes; the figure holds up a huge gold coin and has two blue wings (Cups); behind his head, and appearing at his shoulders' height, a second head shows up.

The difference between life spheres and experiences, inside of a worldview of low and high zones, also relates high heights to ascension by making blood sacrifices, as the crucifixion in The Hanged Man (XII) clearly shows. It can also be appreciated in Coins and Cups suits. Especially the Ace of Coins gives us a bloody first impression, although the deck's guidebook describes the hanging elements as roots, rocks and crystals. Inside of the coin, the classical richness of the material experience in the garden of Hesperides spreads blood out, and is supported by a child who doesn't see what he holds up or what it costs. Again, sensuality and material abundance seem to be associated to the absence of vision, young age and poured blood.

Under the same concept of sacrifice and blood, some cards of the Cups suit show a thick liquid creating a kind of a dense line as it falls. In other cards, the liquid is drop-shaped although in some others a sense of pouring out comes again, especially in those ones associated to fortune, encounters, abundance and earning (Ace, 2, 3 and 7). A card displaying quite well this characteristic is the Seven, which includes 7 elements with liquid inside although all of them lose it but the one showing an Etruscan face (a rustic one). The classical triumph the card means seems to be lost when it's about physical stimulation, personal horizons, shared projects, dreams and good luck. Again, the emotional experience provided by material circumstances is not associated to triumph and, instead, the latter remains just as part of physical and stylistic sobriety.

Major arcana

The Popess II alludes to the legend of Jeane, who might have been a female Catholic Popess by hiding her sexual identity, at some moment of the second half of the IX century.

The Empress III includes the Group C of Mantegna's Tarot in the inferior area.

The Emperor IIII makes homage to Stuart R. Kaplan, president of U.S. Games, as the face of the figure and patron of the deck.

The Hermit VIIII wears the hat used by the monks of the monasteries at Mount Athos in Greece². By the time of Visconti-Sforza's and Mantegna's Tarots, the monasteries were under the jurisdiction of the Otoman Empire. They form a group of 20 temples and keep important relics to the monks: the belt of Virgin Maria, some tools used for crucifying Jesus, the right hand of St John Baptiste, and two big pieces of the cross of Christ.

Death XIII includes the head of the very Luigi Scapini in the inferior left corner.

The figure in Temperance XIIII resembles Leonardo da Vinci's painting of St John Baptiste. In the front, he/she carries a solar disc, a symbol associated to Iliaco (a genius of Group B in the Mantegna's Tarot).

The headdress in Justice VIII reminds us of the three doors in the upper part of Artemis' temple, the Greek hunter goddess. The painting is Temple of Ephesus by Salvador Dalí (1954, oil on canvas).

Strength XI is based on the painting Death of Adam by the Renaissance Piero della Francesca (1452).

Suits

Each suit is mainly associated to a specific color and season in the North Hemisphere: Swords are associated to white and Spring (March), Cups to blue-green and Summer (June), Rods to red and Autumn (September), and Coins to golden and Winter (December).

Swords

The handles of the weapons usually include very meaningful elements, such as a statue of Victory, vampires, harpies, postilion horns, veiled figures, the traitors to the Caesar, a fox head, the ancient swastika cross and an eagle's head.

Swords are also the only suit not referring to gods although include the Chinese yin-yang symbol in 4 cards (Ace, Two, Three and Knight). Besides, the author relates card Three with The Fool, in which a young character is walking like that of card 0, after being sent away by three relatives. The swords' handles in card Three also represent The Fool of other decks (Visconti-Sforza, Marseille and Mantegna), so the relatives of the young man might also be alluded to by them.

Scapini associated the Nine of Swords to other two cards of the same suit: the Page and Queen. Card Nine is mainly about a sarcophagus with the Page on the right side although old aged, demented and huddling in a knot. And the sarcophagus is made of red sandstone, like the base where the Queen is perched on.

Distributed among the cards, we can see a wide range of animals: a serpent, a fox, a pig, horses, a crow, night birds, a fly, a black cat, a red dragon, and a swan.

The Ace of Spades includes Cain and Abel brothers, each aside on the handle.

The Ten of Swords includes the traitors to the Caesar in the handles, and in the center is The Lord of Flies (one of the names for Belcebu or Baal, prince of hell).

The Page of Swords is Brighella, a character of the commedia dell’arte who was usually performed during the Rennaisance Venetian carnival³. The character is a smart and artful slave who knows how to help and also how to cheat. As he has no scruples, he easily adapts to any job: he may become a host, a soldier, a servant or a thief.

The Four of Swords includes the religious votes, stigmata and position of the figure in the painting St Francis of Asis praying, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1645-50, oil on canvas).

The Six of Swords is based on the journey of Paul to Damasco and his conversion on the pathway, as Caravaggio represented him in his painting The Conversion of St Paul (1600, oil over cypress).

Cups

Like Swords and their very singular handles, Cups show specific representations for each vessel either:

Cards & Cups

Ace a font on ice and shells, with a pearl at the center; it has a sinuous support made of a dragon's tail, a turtle's shell and a heart; a hexagonal bowl has fruits and swan's feathers in the outer side 2 a couple splitting apart (associated to serpents), and a satyr next to a nymph (associated to a lion) 3 black cup (recovery), white cup (accomplished work) and golden cup (transmutation) 4 fear to repressed tendencies, blind erotic love, drunkenness, mirages in the desert 5 green liquid with cabbalistic letters 6 living the old age: counting rosary beads, licking drops of pleasure avidly, hedonism and sensuality, practicising magic, knitting socks like a witch, meditating as an ascetic, praying like a monk

7 stimulating liquors, love of an old age couple, distilling opium smoke, ghosts, divine lotus, clouds, Etruscan-like face 8 subjects in life: confession, theater of puppets, procession with flowers trail, a hunting eagle, the occult, fears, prison, possession 9 pregnant women 10 towers-temples and the entrance to a prosper city through a pit Page two lovers kissing each other Knight Cupid folding the right elbow Queen green colored, winged, with Cherubs-like head King shaped like the papal tiara

The suit also shows profusion of animals: a cat, a serpent, horned dolphins, a pigeon, a cicala, a mouse, a spider, seahorses, an eagle, a frog and a mule.

About cards relations, Scapini just mentions one association: the lovers in card Two and the Page. The colors in the man's clothes in card Two are those of the Vatican's guard in the Page, although the cup the last one holds is the opposite representation to that of the Two: the latter shows two lovers too, although they're not together in desire and passion anymore but only as angels.

The golden vessel in the Three of Cups includes a hermaphrodite with a caduceus.

The cup at the center of the upper area of the Eight of Cups represents Polichinella in a theater, another character of the commedia dell'arte⁴. With white suit and wide hat, he's a servant of quite vivid gesture, fool and smart at the same time, as well as brave or coward.

The figure in the Nine of Cups is St Lucy, the patron of blind people. She carries a trumpet that, in the Mantegna's Tarot, is Calliope's symbol, the muse of "the beautiful voice" who rules epic poetry and eloquence.

The Page of Cups is a Vatican's guard, with a monastery at Mount Athos in the background.

The Queen of Cups is a nun who rests in the same position as the goddess in the painting "The birth of Venus", by Boticelli (1485, tempera on canvas).

The Knight of Cups is Rasputin, the sorcerer of the Romanov dynasty at the beginning of the XX century. He's dressed like a monk at Mount Athos.

The King of Cups resembles Pope Leo X (1475-1521) in the painting by Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano (1565-69, oil over tin). The Pope said: "God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it"⁵. (cite from Rendina, Claudio (2013). "I papi. Storia e segreti". Roma. p. 614.)There are reproductions of the Mona Lisa on the floor, St Peter's Cathedral in the background, and a bust of Venus de Milo aside.

Rods

It's the suit with fewest animals since we find just a cat in the Queen. Besides, Scapini relates it to the working class, and mentions just one association of cards in the guidebook: the servants of the Six and the Page share the same livery, although the first ones are still serving and the second one is now freed (although still carries an unchained fetter).

The Ace of Rods includes Hermes holding a furious serpent, and two gnomes in the inferior area, representing strength and hard work.

The Two of Rods portrays Mephistopheles and Dr Faust. According to the legend, Faust sold his soul for knowledge in turn.

In the Seven of Rods, the figure dressed in violet is Pantaleone, another character of the commedia dell'arte, an old merchant of a large nose with a mind focused on businesses. In the card, he receives coins from a woman.

The Knight of Rods shows profusion of diverse elements: a Hun on his horse watches a procession moving away from a burning city in central Asia.

Coins

This suit includes more animals than the suit of Rods although much less than the other two: we find an ox, a lamb, a swan and a cat. And each one of the coins holds within different elements to read:

Cards & Coins

Ace garden of Hesperides 2 Mercury and a library 3 Venus' chariot, the Caesar and a dancing figure with a drum (in Mantegna's Tarot, the instrument is associated to Eratus, the muse whi "awakes desire" and rules erotic poetry and love) 4 the Moon's chariot, a swan swimming in moonlight, a boundary wall of a castle, a cat in a cage 5 Mars' chariot and the 4 elements unleashed 6 misery, Jupiter's chariot, a wanderer who has nothing and another one who has won, a rose, a provider rich man who steps on the upper step of a ladder 7 a sleeping child, a chest with gold treasures, a soul in purgatory praying to be freed, Saturn's chariot, the full Moon, a lyle, a wild tree with fruits

8 The Magician and other major arcana with planetary associations: The Popess and Moon, The Empress and Venus, The Emperor and Jupiter, Strength and Mars, The Star and Mercury, Judgement and Saturn, The World and the Sun 9 goats' skulls 10 family tree made of oak with male faces Page Mercury Knight turtle Queen mother breast-feeding two babies, like the figure inside of the fountain in the Ace of Cups King phoenix (animal associated to virtue Hope, card 39 of Group B in Mantegna's Tarot)

Scapini associates card Seven to the four Pages of the deck, who sit around a game table, among the seven coins mentioned before. The coins are distributed in 3 columns: on the right side of the winner figure, there're the full Moon, a lyle flower and a grown tree; the left side associates material richness to a sleeping child and a soul in purgatory; in the central area is Saturn's chariot, the planet that Scapini associated to Judgment arcane.

Another cards relation mentioned by the author includes card Nine. It shows a sinuous pathway leading to trouble as more coins on the road are founded. At the beginning is the Page of Swords, Brighella, described by the author as "a smart villain who would do anything for money".

The suit also usually displays rooted coins, as if the source of richness would be very important. The artist drawned them as rocks, crystals, spirals, tubers, charms, jewels, as rolled papers and open papers (Six), and even as planets (Eight) and the steps towards a castle (Ten).

The Two of Coins is inspired by Susan and the old, a painting by Gentileschi (1610, oil on canvas)⁶. It's the story of Susan, Joachim's wife, who was a rich and influential jew during the Babilonic exile. Susan had been seen and was desired by two ancient judges, and the two old men planned to spy her while waiting for a chance to harass her.

The standing figure in the Three of Coins resembles Leonardo da Vinci.

The Eight of Coins represents Scapini's life.

The head of the King of Coins resembles Francesco Morosini's portrait, a militar, senator and duke of Venice in the XVII century, who fought against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire.

The Nine of Coins includes Brighella and, halfway, a figure with a falcon, like in the Rider-Waite deck.

A Venice's landscape after the carnival is the background in the Page of Coins.

The Knight of Coins is Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant from the XIII century. In the card, he's looking at Katai, the name he assigned in one of his travels to the region between Yang-Tsé and Yellow rivers (China nowadays).

Cards & Gods

Greek gods Apollo, the Sun god; with a lyre in The Sun XIX Hermes, the messenger of gods, with a solar head; in the lower left area in Strength XI Castor and Pollux, the twins associated to Gemini; represented by an egg in The Sun XIX Chiron, the centaur; replacing the god of love, Cupid, in The Lovers VI Hercules; as a child in The Sun XIX and as a heroe divinized because of his works in the Ace of Rods Silenus, tutor of Dyonisius, the god of wine, and sun of Pan, the patron of shepherds and flocks; as a drunk man in the Four of Cups

Roman gods Mercury, the messenger of gods; in cards Two and the Page of Coins Venus, the goddess of love and arts; in the Three of Coins Mars, the god of war; in the Five of Coins Jupiter, the greatest among the gods; in the Six of Coins Saturn, the god of time and harvest; in the Seven of Coins Eros, the god of love; as a blind man in the Four of Cups

Hindu gods Kali, who represents the raging and destructive expression of divinity; as the gesture of the skeleton in Death XIII

Egyptian gods Annubis, the god of the Underworld with a jackal head; it's the classic representation of card Moon XVIII

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Sources: Nueva tribuna, Alchemy Website.