Tarocchi di Leonardo: anyone good at Italian?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Mar 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

seneris	12 Mar 2005
I just bought the Tarocchi di Leonardo today (22 majors, by Iassen Ghiuselev) and I like them very much. So much that I'm considering buying the Leonardo Tarot (78 cards). The only problem is that there's some kind of booklet with it that's just in Italian, a language that I cannot read... I wanted to ask if there are any people here that could help me perhaps with translating it? An other idea could be if someone here could send me the meanings from the majors from the LWB from the Leonardo Tarot (full 78 cards). Thanks in advance,

Cerulean	12 Mar 2005
1. Two or three of my majors-only decks have the same booklet. It's titled Tarocchi Storia E Divinazione or my bad attempt:: Tarocchi History and Divination -- does this sound familiar? Berti wrote the booklet that seems to go with many of the majors only decks. Sul finire del sec. XIV prese il via in Italia, tra Padova, Ferrara e Firenze, un vasto movimento letterario, artistico e spirituale denominato Umanesimo, che ben preso si diffuse in tutta Europa. In the end of the 14th century in Italy, around Padova, Ferarra and Florence, a vast movement of literature, artistic and spiritually dominated humanism began to diffuse throughout all of Europe. It goes on to give general information, but only generically speaks of the majors. I only have two paragraphs translated, as they don't give much unique information 2. Your suggestion of the majors and minors of the Leonardo might be a better bet, although they do not illuminate the sources of the art. Does the Italian have this wording: "La creazione di un nuovo mazzo di Tarocchi e sempre una sfida; io sanno bene gli artisti che, cimentandosi in questa impresa..." If so, then I can help (see P.S.) Cerulean P.S. It turns out that LWB majors are generic keywords. I think you want the background write up that Berti did for the 78 cards and probably the spread. You can pm me and I'll be glad to email you that segment later this week. I think just posting the major keywords isn't going to help...I'll check Lo Scarabeo's posted booklets for pdf download and I think that will give you the same thing...best wishes until I hear from you.

seneris	13 Mar 2005
Hi Cerulean, thanks for your help. It seems that my booklet gives some background info to the creation of this tarot. I've looked, but I can't seem to find any wording you described. I am very interested in the background write up, and I'd like the spread as well. So if you could send those to me, I'd be very happy. Thank you very much.

fotofile2002	14 Mar 2005
I speak Italian, so please feel free to message me if you need a translation.

Cerulean	15 Mar 2005
That way, we on the board can also check our LWB English translations and the kind offer of the Italian translation can also be consulted. I'll send a small transcript of the English via pm when I have time, probably after this weekend, as work and after-work classes are rather intensive (six full days this week). Regards Cerulean

seneris	15 Mar 2005
From the LWB of the Tarocchi di Leonardo: (there could be spelling mistakes) "Se esiste una figura, nell' ambito del Rinascimento italiano, cui la critica ha attribuito il carattere dell'uomo razionale, dello sperimentatore antesignano dello spirito galileiano, di colui che si allontana dalla cultura scientifica medievale per rinnovarla, questi è Leonardo da Vinci. Indubbiamente tutto ciò è vero. Leonardo, ad esempio, per quanto riguarda l'indagine anatomica non solo si distacca da quella precettistica spicciola della Scuola Salernitana (la cui validità e importanza è però innegabile) ma modifica profondamente l'impostazione stessa della ricerca anatomica rispetto a come potevano intenderla Mondino dei Liuzzi (autore del primo trattato di anatomia umana, la celeberrima Anathomia Mundini) o Berengario da Carpi. Un solo esempio. Mondino tende a giustificare le forme umane in funzione delle volontà del Padre creatore: così, l'uomo è privo di coda perché ha la necessità di riposarsi dopo la fatica e quindi di meditare. Leonardo, invece, cinsidera la machina umana e il suo funziamento, sicché non di rado i muscoli sono considerati tiranti e le articolazioni pulegge o snodi."

Cerulean	15 Mar 2005
Historical introduction by Giordano Berti "The creation of a new Tarot deck is always a challenge. The artists who put themselves to this test know this all too well, having had to maintain coherency of style, line and color for 78 images. But before creating the images, a project whish simultaneously traditional as well as innovative in necessary because the Arcana must always be recognizeable. The problem becomes greater when an artist of the calibre of Leonardo da Vinci is used as a point of reference; one risks falling into plagarism or banalization. But the Leonardo Tarot has overcome the challenge. The Major Arcana, created in 1992 by Iassen Ghiuselev following my inconography indcations, may be instered among the "Leonardesque" masterpieces. In fact, as the well-known art historian Mateo Bussagali wrote, "the Bulgarian painter has completely succeeded in restoring the charm of the Leonardeque chiaroscuro using an impeccable technique." Today, ten years later, the deck is offered in a complete version thanks to another Bulgarian artist, Atanas Atanassov, who took steps to create the 56 Minor Arcana. When observing this new series, one remains spellbound by the seriousness with which the Eastern European schools prepare new generations of artists, making them capable of reinterpreting the Art (let's empahsize the uppercase A) with the "lightness" of those who have perfectly aquired both the aesthetic precepts as well as the most refined techniques." So the 78 card version seems to start off by talking about the background of the publishing story behind the Leonardo tarot. I'll pm you the rest. If anyone wants to post their translated ideas in English about what was typed previously in Italian, I'm very interested in reading the information. Regards, Cerulean

LoukezXV	17 Mar 2005
seneris wrote: From the LWB of the Tarocchi di Leonardo: (there could be spelling mistakes) "Se esiste una figura, nell' ambito del Rinascimento italiano, cui la critica ha attribuito il carattere dell'uomo razionale, dello sperimentatore antesignano dello spirito galileiano, di colui che si allontana dalla cultura scientifica medievale per rinnovarla, questi è Leonardo da Vinci. Indubbiamente tutto ciò è vero. Leonardo, ad esempio, per quanto riguarda l'indagine anatomica non solo si distacca da quella precettistica spicciola della Scuola Salernitana (la cui validità e importanza è però innegabile) ma modifica profondamente l'impostazione stessa della ricerca anatomica rispetto a come potevano intenderla Mondino dei Liuzzi (autore del primo trattato di anatomia umana, la celeberrima Anathomia Mundini) o Berengario da Carpi. Un solo esempio. Mondino tende a giustificare le forme umane in funzione delle volontà del Padre creatore: così, l'uomo è privo di coda perché ha la necessità di riposarsi dopo la fatica e quindi di meditare. Leonardo, invece, cinsidera la machina umana e il suo funziamento, sicché non di rado i muscoli sono considerati tiranti e le articolazioni pulegge o snodi." If a figure exists, in the within of the Italian Rinascimento, which the critic has attributed the character of the man rations them, of the experimenter standard-bearer of the galileiano spirit, of R-he who it goes away from medieval the scientific culture in order to renew it, these is Leonardo from You win Undoubtedly all that is true. Leonardo, as an example, as far as anatomical surveying distacca from that spicciola precettistica of the Salernitana School (whose validity and importance modification is but undeniable) but deeply the same formulation of the anatomical search regarding like Mondino of the Liuzzi could not only be meant it (author of the first treaty of human anatomy, celeberrima the Anathomia Mundini) or Berengario from Carpi. A single example. They peel stretches to justify the human shapes in function of the will of the creator Father: therefore, the man is lacking in tail because he has the necessity to rest itself after the hard work and therefore to meditate. Leonardo, instead, cinsidera the human machina and its funziamento, sicché of I do not shave muscles are considers pulling and the articulations you pulegge or snodi. http://dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html <--- from Italian to english =) dont know if its correct. sorry if its wrong

seneris	17 Mar 2005
Hi LoukezXV, thanks for your reply. I have tried the GoogleTranslator on this piece of text and I find it very confusing in parts, it doesn't always translate well or readable. But it's better than nothing... And I like this part: "... of I do not shave muscles..." LOL :)

Cerulean	17 Mar 2005
instructions in different languages here: http://www.loscarabeo.com/downloads.htm I am sending via pm the full intro and spread description of the 78 cards. I would say the 78 card version is worth it and I do like the LWB in general. Best wishes, Cerulean

LoukezXV	18 Mar 2005
seneris wrote: it doesn't always translate well or readable. LOL :) i agrees! as far as i know... i dont really speak nor write gd english.. well i always speak chinese :P anyway, the above translate i dont understand about 1/2 of the english lol the part funny which i find is "these is Leonardo from You win" what kind of eng is this haha

The Tarocchi di Leonardo: anyone good at Italian? thread was originally posted on 12 Mar 2005 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.