Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘Marco Benedetti’

Apr 29

5 Comments

Loving Pierre Madenié

Hundreds of decks have passed through my hands during my fifty years with tarot; and I’ve been reading with a few that I really love for decades. But I never became instantly infatuated with a deck until I unboxed the 1709 Pierre Madenié in 2013. This was the first deck I ever purchased from Yves Reynaud, and I was thrilled to own such a faithful reproduction of an historic deck. Adding to the magic, when I opened the package from France, something tiny zipped through the air in front of my face and brushed my cheek. I was sure a tarot fairy had been set free from the package. I knew instantly that this was no ordinary deck!

Read more

Apr 9

3 Comments

Etteilla: The First Modern Card Reader and His Reconstructed Decks by Marco Benedetti

Let’s celebrate Etteilla, the eighteenth-century cartomancer who laid the groundwork for our contemporary tarot reading practices. After writing numerous books on divination, seeing clients, running a school, and establishing a tarot society, he found time to design a tarot deck that has been in print, in slightly altered form, for over 200 years.  Now for the first time, thanks to Marco Benedetti’s reconstruction, Etteilla’s original tarot deck, as he conceived it, is available to the public. Before taking a close look at Etteilla’s tarot, we’ll review his amazing career.

Read more

Jan 28

I Tarocchi del Mitelli by Marco Benedetti

Mitelli Tarocchi

Today I’m celebrating the artistry of Giuseppe Maria Mitelli along with Marco Benedetti’s luxurious new edition of Mitelli’s tarocchino. I’ll begin by describing Benedetti’s deck; then, I’ll give some background on Mitelli, his artistic output, and the distinct features of his deck. We’ll conclude by looking at other copies of the deck in various museums. But first, what is a tarocchino and what makes this deck so different from other historic tarot decks?

Read more

Mar 7

3 Comments

Tarocco Bolognese Dalla Tore with Rivoltini

For over four centuries, every Italian playing card was handcrafted with rivoltini borders. These are created by gluing backing paper onto the card, folding the four sides over to the front, then gluing the borders down. Now, for the first time in over a century, we can obtain a tarot deck made with this labor-intensive, traditional method.

For this production, Marco Benedetti has reprinted his Dalla Torre Tarocco Bolognese, which was published in 2020. He added hand-crafted rivoltini borders, and packaged the deck in his signature custom-made wooden box. This deck is a partially restored facsimile of a nearly complete 17th-century Tarocchini in the Bibliothèque Nationale Française.

Read more

Jun 7

8 Comments

A Fiorentine Minchiate Restored by Marco Benedetti

Announcing a Fiorentine Minchiate deck produced by Marco Cesare Benedetti of Rome, Italy. The strong lines, rich colors and expressive faces make this limited edition deck very readable. Before I get into specifics of Benedetti’s deck, let’s get clear on what a Minchiate deck is and how it differs from tarot.

Read more

Nov 14

Marco Benedetti’s Personal Visconti

Box Cover Benedetti Personal Visconti

The Visconti-Sforza deck is a hybrid mash-up of sixty-eight original cards painted by Bonifacio Bembo about 1450, six cards that were created by a different artist around 1475, and four cards that are still missing and have to be recreated by a contemporary artist whenever the deck is republished. Marco Benedetti has never been happy with the ten replacement cards, and dreamt for years of creating his own version of these cards that would enhance the deck rather than detract from it. This deck brings his personal vision into fruition. By drawing on other works by Bembo for most of the replacement cards, he has revived the deck’s original spirit.

Read more

Apr 29

2 Comments

Tarot History on Youtube

Marco Benedetti and myself in a conversation moderated by Justin Michael. We talk about tarot’s Italian origins and show off lots of decks from our collections. Here’s a chance to see historic deck facsimiles, as well as Marco’s recreations of rare Italian decks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGNCOS2zQQk

This is a kick-off video to Justin’s Tarot Through the Ages series.  He’s got some interesting things coming up that will introduce a new audience to tarot’s roots. Be sure to check out Justin’s Titans of Tarot series where he interviews luminaries like Robert Place, Vincent Pitisci, and Rachel Pollack.

Apr 1

Budapest Bounty: Three Recreations of an Ancient Tarot

I’ve always been intrigued by the few remnants of fifteenth-century block-printed decks that still exist. They hold tantalizing clues to the early days of tarot, so I’m thrilled that there are three versions of the block-printed Budapest deck on the market. Shown here from left to right are the Fool and Judgment cards by Robert Place, Sullivan Hismans and Marco Benedetti.

Read more

Feb 11

1 Comment

Tarot Marco Benedetti: Visconti Homage Deck

Twenty-five years ago, Marco Benedetti painted a heavenly homage to the Visconti-Sforza deck in tempera on gold leaf. A few years ago, he offered his deck to the public on Gamecrafter, and as a custom printed gold-leaf deck. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his original deck, he is offering both the original deck and an updated 25th anniversary edition on Gamecrafter and as a custom printed gold deck. Both Gamecraafter decks come with additional cards, so you really get two decks in one. There are several options for customizing the gold deck., which I discuss toward the bottom. First, let’s compare the two Gamecrafter versions.

Read more

Jan 28

5 Comments

The Fifteenth-Century Charles VI Deck Recreated by Marco Benedetti

In fifteenth-century Italy, wealthy aristocrats indulged themselves with luxurious, hand painted, gold-embossed Trionfi decks. The decks came in two distinct families: those commissioned by the Visconti and Sforza Dukes of Milan in the International Gothic style; and Renaissance-style decks created most likely in either Ferrara or Florence. The so-called Charles VI deck, with 16 trump cards, is the most complete deck of the Florentine pattern. Other decks of this type have only a handful of trump cards. Benedetti compiled a complete 78-card deck by cobbling together all the existing cards in the Florentine style. A few absent cards had to be recreated, while several cards exist as duplicates. Benedetti includes the duplicate trump cards with his recreated deck, for a total of 90 cards.

Read more
« Older Entries