Lupatelli's Fairy/Elves Deck -- something amazing

[firemaiden]

Hi! Is it me reading too much into things? Am I going bananas? or is this common knowledge and obvious to everyone? Did Lupatelli do this on purpose? Am I going mad?

I have done a side by side comparison of the "moody minors' in the Crowley deck, (since you were on the subject) and the "scenic minors" in the Lupatelli fairies (elves) deck and have discovered that in these scenic minors, is reproduced in the most sly, secret and magical way, the pattern, or shape, or structure, or all of these things, of the Crowley minors. It takes a while to see the correspondances, but they are startling me now.

A few striking examples:

elves 4 of leaves ==> Crowley 4 of swords:
An elf in a birds nest, is heckled on all sides by four birds.
The four beaks are positioned like the four swords of the Crowley deck picture, the circle of the nest is the lotus blossom, the surrounding leaves and branches recall the pattern of green light and brownish intersecting stars on the Thoth background.

elves 5 of leaves ==> Crowley 5 of swords:
A sort of dragon fly is having its leg pulled by three elves. The dragon fly's tail and four legs recall the pattern of five curved swords pointing to a center axis in the crowley card, the antena and wings recalls the star of red seeds. Actually if you turn the crowley card upside down it works better, you can almost see the dragonfly in the pattern of swords and red seeds.


elves 8 of leaves ==> Crowley 8 of swords
The curve of the sleeping fairy, the straight horizon, the curved boughs with sleeping fairies above imitate the shapes of the swords on the Crowley card.

elves 3 of acorns==> Crowley 3 of wands:
A crowned elf is part of a procession, his long mustaches, beard and hair are being carried for him by his retinue... The elf's crown recalls the center lotus blossom of the center wand in Crowley's card, the yellow mustaches and beard recall the triangular axes of the wands pointing down, also yellow. The elf's arms and torso, his red shirt, recall the star pattern behind the wands, the leaves and blades of grass around also imitate more of the Crowley card background.

[Cerulean]

Gaudanzi did the same thing in his renamed Tarot of the Hidden Folk. It was also called at one time Enchanted, with an earlier name "Tarot of the Golden Dawn." In Gaudanzi's case, he took elements that appeared on the majors of the Thoth deck, such as the ostrich feather in Justice, the tiptoe stance and scales/sword and transformed it into a giantess with one knee raised and tumbling elves.

In an earlier post I attributed the chariot from the Fairy Tarot as a pumpkin (similar to the Fey), but I was totally wrong.

Anyway, once in awhile, I come across what I think is a startling design similarity or humerous take from a modern Italian tarot and an older historical design. I'm learning to check my art and reading sources, especially when it comes to Lo Scarabeo artists--such things keep me on my toes and it is fun...Hajo Banhoff's Keywords to the Crowley Thoth breaks down the design elements of the Thoth in a way that makes it easier for me to see when a designer is doing a retake on that design.

Happy Thoth workalike discoveries...

[firemaiden]

Of couse the difference with Gaudenzi, working from the Toth Majors, is that what he began with was already pictoral. Yet here, the source is abstract, and the copy is pictoral!! the correspondances are soooo hidden, but now I see them in every card. One doesn't tend to look for structural patterns in a pictoral card (unless trained). This artist has really done his homework. I knew there was something very special about this deck. It is as if he pondered the Crowley deck for hours, using it as a scrying tool, and then painted his visions!

Here's another one -- the Five of Acorns, it is all done in the patterns of the veins and stems of the leaves, plus the colors of the elves's clothes, that it imitates the intersecting wands and flames, of the Five of Wands.

He uses bug legs, bird beaks, grass, leaves, and flowers to create the different axes and patterns. I haven't even started looking at the bells and hearts yet!

This is MEGA COOL!

[firemaiden]

Look! Wow!! Look at the 2's of Hearts/Cups:
The flowing hair, the flowing dress, the flowing red coat, imitate the shapes and colors of the water flowing from cup to cup on the Crowley 3 of Cups.

And the 6 of hearts is brilliant! See the pattern of wavy lines of Crowley's 6 of cups? Now look at the patterns of curves and wavy lines formed by the fairies flying/floating past.

Seriously, does anyone else have these two decks? Can you see what I am seeing? Is this amazing or not???

[Kirali]

Myrrha pointed out that the minors 2-10 of the Lupatelli Fairy Tarots deck seem to be the work of Richard Doyle who was a Victorian artist who lived from 1824 to 1883 painting fairyland scenes.

And Thoth Tarot was finished in uhm 1942 or 1943 published in the 60s? so maybe it's just a coincidence or whoever chose the minors 2-10, chose them because they looked similar to the Thoth minors?

Here's the thread: Fairy Tarots Thread (http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?threadid=9588)

Here's the 3 of hearts image which is called "A Rehearsal in Fairy Land" by Richard Doyle:3 of hearts (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/wc/2.html)

here's more biographical information on Richard Doyle
Richard Doyle (http://www.ricochet-jeunes.org/eng/biblio/illus/doyle.html)

But you brought up some very curious connections to each other so I will be rifling though both of those decks to see the comparisons. Which is something that I love a lot! :)

Don't let me damper your image comparisons! They are extremely interesting and makes me look at my Fairy Tarots more and appreciate it more since I was put off by the revelation that the whole deck was not entirely Lupatelli's work.

[firemaiden]

I saw the mentions of Doyle before on this site, but I thought were talking about imitating the style not lifting whole illustrations! Arf! I am going to find and identify the source for the minors 2-10 for every suit! That makes the coincidences with the crowley deck even more mind boggling. Perhaps indeed I am going mad...

Courtship cut short (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/graphics/1.html)= 5 of Acorns
Rehearsal in Fairyland (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/wc/2.html) = 3 of hearts
Water Lilies and Water-fairies (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/graphics/3.html) = 7 of hearts and 6 of leaves
An elfin dance by night (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/graphics/5.html)= 9 of acorns
Elf in search of a fairy (http://www.fire-serpent.com/post/ffairy.jpg) = 2 of acorns
He finds her and this is the consequence (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/graphics/2.html) = 2 of bells
Triumphal March of the Elf King by Night (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/graphics/8.html) also here (http://www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galvctf/rdoyle.html) = 3, 8 of Acorns, 8 of hearts, 8, 10 of bells
Reposing by Night (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/graphics/9.html) = 10 of cups
Asleep in the Moonlight (http://www.artmagick.com/paintings/painting2861.aspx) = 8, 10 of leaves
An Elf's Condition (http://www.fire-serpent.com/post/condition.jpg)= 3 of leaves
Fairy and Owls (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/imageid=3030/action=showimage/sortby=dateadded/orderby=desc/oldAction=artwork/oldMsgId=326) = 4 of acorns
Teasing a Butterfly (http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9900/Jul03_00/8.htm)and (color version) (http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/product_large.asp?userid=3HXC99467T&EAN=9780587059424)= 3 of bells
Elves Subduing a Dragonfly (http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/product_large.asp?userid=3HXC99467T&EAN=9780587059417) = 5 of leaves
Bo! to a beetle (http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/product_large.asp?userid=3HXC99467T&EAN=9780587062158) = 10 of acorns
Climbing (http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/product_large.asp?userid=3HXC99467T&EAN=9780587059400) = 2 of leaves
Stealing (http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/product_large.asp?userid=3HXC99467T&EAN=9780587059394) -- 5 of bells
Manners and Customs (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/pubs/tradecatalogue/indiv%20screens/classicill/cn0026.html) = 9 of bells
Moonlight Suitor (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/imageid=3035/action=showimage/sortby=dateadded/orderby=desc/oldAction=artwork/oldMsgId=326) = 5 of hearts
Princely Suitor (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/action=showimage/imageid=3036) = 2 of Hearts
Poor Little Birdie Teased (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/imageid=1661/action=showimage/sortby=dateadded/orderby=desc/oldAction=artwork/oldMsgId=326) 7 of Leaves
Spurned Suitor (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/imageid=3039/action=showimage/sortby=dateadded/orderby=desc/oldAction=artwork/oldMsgId=326) = 4 of Hearts
Butterfly Dance (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/imageid=3027/action=showimage/sortby=dateadded/orderby=desc/oldAction=artwork/oldMsgId=326) = 7 of bells
Courtship (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/imageid=3028/action=showimage/sortby=dateadded/orderby=desc/oldAction=artwork/oldMsgId=326) = 6 of bells
Wood Elves at Play (http://www.klingarts.com/pp/doyle/doyle_33.html)=6 of hearts




Edited to add/clean/update links.

New site shows more Doyle paintings (http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/msgId=326/action=artwork)

[Kirali]

Oh my goodness, I have been doing the same thing since I posted that! hehehe I've been looking and looking and the only paintings that I cannot find names or pictures of to confirm what they are, are: 9 of hearts, 7 of leaves, 6 of hearts, 5 of hearts, 2 of hearts, 10 of bells, 4 of bells, 5 of bells, 9 of leaves, 7 of acorns
that's it!

You're not going mad! I'm sure you can find similarities in almost anything if you look hard enough! I felt just as mad as you did when I learned that the minors were from an uncredited artist! But then again I'm weird about always crediting sources and such!
Alas! I can't find anymore paintings. There is a calendar in one of those links which you could buy! And among the the pages that I looked, there were even fairy tattoo's of Doyle's images! hehe Good luck, but I'm tired and the Buc's just won the playoffs so I must go!

~Jenny
ArtMagick - Painting Detail for Asleep in the moonlight by Richard Doyle (http://www.artmagick.com/paintings/painting2861.aspx) 8 and 10 of leaves
Richard "Dicky" Doyle, 1824-83: An Overview (http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/doyle/) 2 of bells, 5 of acorns, 7 of hearts &6 of leaves, 8 of bells, acorns and hearts and 3of acorns, 9 of acorns, 10 of hearts
Barnes & Noble.com Results (http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/Results.asp?ctr=522788) - 2 of leaves10 of acorns, 3 of leaves, 2 of acorns, 5 of leaves, 3 of bells, 4 of acorns
Fairy Tales (http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/fairies.html) 4 of hearts

Pomegranate (http://store6.yimg.com/I/pomegranate_1721_219919590) 4 of leaves, 6 of acorns, 7 of bells, 6 of bells

9 of bells (http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/bslide28l.JPG)

[firemaiden]

five of bells is "Stealing"

All of the rest of the pictures seem to be illustrations to "in Fairyland" or "Princess Nobody" -- I can see them at the Amazon site by looking inside the book.

[Kirali]

Originally posted by firemaiden
five of bells is "Stealing"

All of the rest of the pictures seem to be illustrations to "in Fairyland" or "Princess Nobody" -- I can see them at the Amazon site by looking inside the book.

Ah thanks for that, I will have a look through those books in the morning and hunt for more paintings/card images.

[firemaiden]

Fun isn't it, looking at art on the internet. Meanwhile, see if this blows you away: look at the 7 of hearts, especially the upside down fuchsia hat and then look at the Crowley 7 of cups.

[firemaiden]

Here's a site with the full text to Andrew Lang's Princess Nobody,
http://www.angelfire.com/empire/fantasy5/stories/PrincessNobody1.html
It gives the illustrations their story.

ooops edited to say, the illustrations went to the verse text of "Fairyland" -- Andrew Lang wrote a prose story to them later, because he liked the pictures so much...

[zazen]

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