Antichi Tarocchi Illuminati

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Jun 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Moongold	10 Jun 2004
I picked this up for nothing last night. The English name is the Sola Busca Ancient Enlightened Tarot and this version is published by Lo Scarabeo. The deck apparently dates back to the Italian Renaissance - 1442? It is a fascinating deck and is supposed to be one which influenced Pamela Colman Smith in her illustrations for the WCS. Essentially the illustrations are based on warriors and even the female figures of the Major Arcana look very robust. The Major Arcana figures are all named after real life people at the time I believe. The pips are fascinating and very witty. I actually laughed out loud at some of them. The female characters are recognizably female. Has anyone read with this deck? I think it would be a fascinating experience.

Cerulean	10 Jun 2004
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/sola-busca/review.shtml Unfortunately I cannot find any existing link from "Tea" that has the cards/commentary referred to in the review. I hope you have fun with them--they are absurdly ugly-interesting to me. However I prefer the Schifanioa Palace remake in the Estensi Tarot in my period likes of Ferrarese courtly games...I even prefer the silly Tarocchi of Matteo Maria Boiardo (remake) to the Sola Busca. It's closer to my following a thread of Amor and Ferarrese courtly love... I've had the Sola Busca book and the cards for awhile. The ones Lo Scarabeo used are a 19th century remake from photographs. The 19th century remake had color and titles added to what was originally a black and white engraved deck. I've kept the book because it has interesting commentary in English of Ferrarese card design and a little of MM Boiardo, a study interest of mine. I find the book helpful and interesting, although dating is slightly sketchy--G. Berti points out in the Sola Busca book that Hind and other historians have inferred it is more likely dated to 1480 or 1490, after the 1470 dating for the so-called Mantegna. That it came in Duke Ercole's time after the 1470s is more likely to me, than the 1440s. The era of the Italian wars ramped up in the 1490s and Ferarra had become a place of unrest and strife. I think humor is fun and it's that kind of deck, but I'm attached to the poet's slant, silly though it is, of 'love conquers all' Best wishes on your new finds! Cerulean Mari

Cerulean	04 Sep 2004
This adds more interesting information to users of this deck: http://www.geocities.com/cartedatrionfi/Fragments/SolaBusca.html Michael Hurst is talking about an original uncolored deck. I may not like all the card designs, but I agree with others who like the deck coloring. Giordano Berti has written in the book that the colors in the deck that Lo Scarabeo has printed show additional painting that was in probably the 19th century. The titles of the figures of Lo Scarabeo-issued deck were also probably added later than than the 15th century. Regards, Cerulean

The Antichi Tarocchi Illuminati thread was originally posted on 10 Jun 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.