Bologna and the origin of Triumphs

Triumphs, Tarots and Tarocchini in

Bologna from the XV to the XX century

"Master Jacamo painter called Sagramoro today February the 10th in remuneration
for his work of having painted and coloured 4 pairs of triumph cards,... which serve
our Lord for his use..." (Maistro Iacomo depentore dito Sagramoro de avere adi 10
fiebraro per sue merzede de avere cho(lo)rido e depento.... 4 para de chartexele da
trionffi, ... le quale ave lo nostro Signore per suo uxo...) (figure 1)

Besides, the court cards are six instead of four, with the
addition of a Female Knight (figure 2) and Page in each suit

(figure 3) the order of the Tarot of Charles VI is

compared with the traditional one of
Bologna.

in the Chariot we find a standing warrior on a

cart dragged by two horses with a sword in its
sheath and a halberd in his hand (figure 4)

Strength is represented by a young girl in the

action of breaking a column in accord with the
iconography of the Christian virtue
Fortitude (figure 5)

Hanged man holds in his hands two pouches of

Death is represented by a skeleton on a horse
coins, as we find again in a tarot of Bologna of
(figure 7)
the XVI century (figure 6

the Tower possesses the same aspect of a

castle door (figure 8)

the Moon is connoted by the presence of

astrologers (figure 9

the Sun by a woman who is

spinning (figure 10)

the World we find a woman (Fame) set with

her feet on top of the earth depicted inside a
circle (figure 11

In the Medieval Civic Museum in Bologna

there is a stone bas-relief (11) from the
same period that shows Charity(figure 14)
with the Misero (The Impoverished One)

mperor Theodosiuss depiction (figure 12) as it is in the so-called Mantegna Tarot (figure 13), is the
manuscript codex Constitutions and privileges of the Bolognese study of 1467

the Misero (The Impoverished One) and Zentilomo (Gentleman) as represented in the Mantegna Tarot (figure 15 - figure 16).

engraved copies inserted in the work of

Giampietro Zanotti, The Paintings of Pellegrino
Tibaldi and Niccol Abbati, printed in Venice in
1757(figure 17).

Certainly two sheets of the XVI century come

from Bologna, one of which is in the cole des
Beaux Arts in Paris and the other one in the
Rothschild collection in the Louvre Museum,
both belonging to the same deck, in which we
find the Sun, the World, the Hanged Man, the
Wheel, the Angel, and the Hermit in the
former (figure 18

the Tower, the Star, the Moon, the Devil, the

Chariot and Death in the latter (figure 19).
These images are truly similar to those of the
Bolognese Tarocchino of the XVI century

A wonderful example of the XVII century

Bolognese Tarot is conserved at the National
Library of Paris: it is a deck composed of 56
cards (out of a total of 62) engraved on wood
and then stencil-painted, as reported in the
workFine Cards Dalla Torre in Bologna (figure
20 - figure 21

Queen of Staves appears the coat of arms of

the Fibbia Family (figure 22

Subjects pertaining to cards and players were not unusual for Mitelli, who
produced several engravings of this sort, such as Considerable
Conversation, which shows us various caricatures of card players around a
table (figure 23)

Miteli?
the engraving Who plays for
money loses by necessity, with a man who is
going to denude himself because he has lost all
his goods (figure 24

Miteli?
engraving taken from the series The twenty
four hours of Human happinessof 1665,
representing a player almost dancing near a
table on which there are cards, dice and
money, elements that are on the floor as well
(figure 25)

the Magician becomes a kind of dancing jester (figure 26 - figure 27 - figure 28).

card of the Fool (figure 29) as Misto [Mixed]