Bean Feasa
One of the interesting features of the ToP is the two versions of Death; I remember discussions on AT a while ago comparing and contrasting the two and asking whether people left one out, and if so which one. Personally I leave both of them in - they haven't turned up in tandem yet, not sure what exactly I'd say if they did!
One Death is on horseback, kitted out in ghostly armour and carrying a black flag. His horse doesn't look real though, and is by no means a majestic steed, it's a wooden horse with a synthetic-looking mane (a nod as in the Ten of Wands perhaps to the long tradition of puppetry in Prague). Just beyond the grim rider are rocks with demonic faces carved into them, or appearing out of them and behind those again is a backdrop with the more traditional skeleton and his scythe and hourglass leaning against a wintry tree. A design of geometry and numbers seems to hint at the fixed allotted span of a life, and makes me think of the phrase 'when you're number's up you go'. This Death card has a rather knightly, legendary look to it, and feels a bit more removed from reality, like when Death in fairy stories comes to bad people, while the good live on happy ever after.
The other Death card is another kettle of fish altogether. This one makes me shudder. Death is a supine skeleton in the foreground with an odious grinning skull head. His relaxed pose makes me think of Roman emperors reclining on their couches and it looks as if he's lying back watching the pain of the humans massed in front of him, and enjoying it all a little too much. The distant background is the same as the backdrop on the first Death card, but it's pushed farther away by the huddle of figures that fills the middle distance of the card. Painted in murky shades their faces show a gamut of emotions ranging from puzzled to melancholy, perturbed and pleading. Many show outright distress. Skulls and corpses are mixed in among them so that it's hard, in some cases, to tell the living from the dead. It's clear that those who aren't ill or dead are suffering the the agony of bereavement. The book tells us that this card is in the tradition of baroque Memento Mori paintings, and it certainly is a graphic reminder of the inescapable influence of Death on human life.
One Death is on horseback, kitted out in ghostly armour and carrying a black flag. His horse doesn't look real though, and is by no means a majestic steed, it's a wooden horse with a synthetic-looking mane (a nod as in the Ten of Wands perhaps to the long tradition of puppetry in Prague). Just beyond the grim rider are rocks with demonic faces carved into them, or appearing out of them and behind those again is a backdrop with the more traditional skeleton and his scythe and hourglass leaning against a wintry tree. A design of geometry and numbers seems to hint at the fixed allotted span of a life, and makes me think of the phrase 'when you're number's up you go'. This Death card has a rather knightly, legendary look to it, and feels a bit more removed from reality, like when Death in fairy stories comes to bad people, while the good live on happy ever after.
The other Death card is another kettle of fish altogether. This one makes me shudder. Death is a supine skeleton in the foreground with an odious grinning skull head. His relaxed pose makes me think of Roman emperors reclining on their couches and it looks as if he's lying back watching the pain of the humans massed in front of him, and enjoying it all a little too much. The distant background is the same as the backdrop on the first Death card, but it's pushed farther away by the huddle of figures that fills the middle distance of the card. Painted in murky shades their faces show a gamut of emotions ranging from puzzled to melancholy, perturbed and pleading. Many show outright distress. Skulls and corpses are mixed in among them so that it's hard, in some cases, to tell the living from the dead. It's clear that those who aren't ill or dead are suffering the the agony of bereavement. The book tells us that this card is in the tradition of baroque Memento Mori paintings, and it certainly is a graphic reminder of the inescapable influence of Death on human life.