Marco Benedetti’s Personal Madrone Deck
Marco Benedetti’s restored Visconti di Modrone deck is a magic carpet ride to a late medieval world of elegant lords and ladies and knights in shining armor. A world where fabulously wealthy aristocrats commissioned trionfi decks drenched in silver and gold from the greatest artists of the day.
The Modrone deck was most likely a wedding gift, and is one of most romantic and feminine decks of the fifteenth-century. The cards have pink borders filled with delicate blue flowers, and the six court cards in each suit are arranged in three male/female pairs.
What remains of the original deck is too fragmented to be useful for divination. Benedetti’s vision was to produce not only a beautiful work of art, but to bring the deck to life in a version useful for shuffling and reading. To accomplish this, he is offering the deck in two sizes: the original large size in a custom-made wooden box, and a smaller deck designed for ease of shuffling. Benedetti has filled out the missing trump and court cards beautifully, retaining the aristocratic elegance of the original International Gothic style.
Let’s take a close look at the deck and at Benedetti’s choices for replacement cards.
Tarot Heritage 