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Della Rocca Tarot (Tarocco Soprafino) |
Tarocchi Gumppenberg |
Dotti Engraved Tarot (Tarocco Italiano) |
Tarocchino Milanese |
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I - Il Bagattella or Il Bagatto |
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XI - La Forza |
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XVIII - La Luna |
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XXI - Il Mondo |
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In the 18th century, tarot was reintroduced to northern Italy from France. At first, the cards had French titles and were very similar in design to the Tarot de Marseille (see the Zoni deck on the Marseilles family page). Gradually, though, this Lombardy Tarot acquired a more Italian identity. This culminated in 1835 when the cardmaker Ferdinando Gumppenberg in Milan produced a lavishly engraved deck by the artist Carlo Della Rocca. This deck has been frequently reproduced, and sold as "Tarocco Soprafino" (extra fine tarot). A close examination of Della Rocca's designs suggests that he was familiar not only with the standard Lombardy Tarot, but also with some of the great Italian engraved tarots from previous centuries, such as the Tarocchino di Mitelli, the Minchiate Etruria, and possibly the Tarocchi del Mantegna. Whatever Della Rocca's influences, the result of his work was a richly beautiful deck revisioning the French designs in a distinctively Italian style.
This luxury deck was both popular and influential. Not to be outdone, Gumppenberg's chief rival, Teodoro Dotti, also produced a fancy engraved deck in short order. Other decks with similar designs followed, some more refined than others. The turn-of-the century design shown in the final column is still produced today, although it is marketed to the collecting and cartomancy market rather than to card players. Meanwhile, the classic woodblock Lombardy Tarot continued to be produced (the engraved decks were more expensive and had a smaller market). The Gumppenberg 1840 tarot shown here is an example of the latter, although there are signs of possible influence from the Della Rocca designs. Note the shoe on the Bagattella's table, identifying him as a cobbler, the way the Strength maiden straddles the lion, and the position of the arms and draperies of the World dancer.
The terminology surrounding these patterns is confusing. The decks have been sold under many different names, without a consistent terminology for distinguishing the designs inspired by the Della Rocca deck from the earlier ones. The International Playing Card Society designates the Lombardy pattern as IT-1.1 and the Della Rocca pattern as IT-1.3, assigning the name Tarocchino Milanese to the latter. (In this case, the diminunitive form tarocchino refers to the narrow width of the cards, not to the reduction of the number of cards in the deck.)
Some interesting questions arise regarding the introduction of the Tarot de Marseille into northern Italy. Playing-card historian Sylvia Mann advanced the hypothesis that there had been a complete "discontinuity" in the production and use of tarot cards in northern Italy in the 17th century, so that when the Tarot de Marseille became popular in the 18th century, there was no recollection of the earlier Milanese cards and the games that had been played with them. Michael Dummett argues that the discontinuity may not have been so complete, so that although local production of cards had ceased, players may have retained recollection of their traditional game rules and perhaps some recollection of the card designs as well. It is possible, though impossible to verify, that the Lombary Tarot and Tarocchino Milanese preserve a few features of the early Tarot of Milan not seen in the Tarot de Marseille. It is not known, for example, where the portrayal of the Bagattella as a cobbler originated, or how old that conception is.
In any event, the Tarocchino Milanese emerges as a sort of synthesis of French and Italian tarot design traditions, and is fascinating for that reason. Della Rocca's artistic skill set a standard for later decks in this pattern; the oddly proportioned and simplistically rendered figures of the Tarot de Marseille gave way to the more realistically drawn and posed Milanese forms, while still (in the woodblock decks especially) retaining some of their archetypal simplicity. Not all of Della Rocca's innovations persisted, however. The dinner plate under the lobster, for example, passed quietly--and thankfully--out of existence in later versions of the pattern.
