1830 Carlo Della Rocca Tarot

Sherryl

gregory said:
Hm. The Tarocchino Lombardo also uses engraved designs by della Rocca, from 1835.
And then there's the Soprafino in its many variants:
Why are we wondering who else was involved here - why should Menegazzi not have simply reproduced the historic pencilled original ? Am I missing something ? (I have emailed the curator of the Museo in Riola; maybe she can help, but still...)
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For me, the "smoking gun" is what's printed on the enclosed cards.
The card for Il Meneghello's Tarocco Soprafino printed in 1992 says "Ristampa fedelissima"
The card in Tarocco Milanese 1850 says "Edizione ristampata da Il Meneghello".
Both of these tell me they are reprints (Ristampare) of the original.

The card in the pencil soprafino says "Ispirato da carte incise da Della Rocca". Inspired by, not reprinted from. I believe Menegazzi is telling us this is a new deck that closely follows Della Rocca but is not actually by him.
 

gregory

Fair enough. If I don't hear from the curator in a few days I'll ask Frank Jensen !
 

DeToX

Sherryl said:
Detox: I took another look at the staining (inclusions in the paper?) or whatever it is. It's also on the enclosed card that says "Edizioni Il Meneghello" so it's obviously a contemporary artifact, applied to modern card stock. The paper on the Classico Tarocco di Marsiglia almost looks like it was lightly marbled. On the black & white deck it looks like flecks and splotches.

All of this says to me that the pencil-drawn deck is a modern rendering, and there isn't even an attempt to make the deck appear contemporary to Della Rocca.
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Hmm interesting. Assuming the enclosed card wasn't copied to be in the style of the rest of the deck, then you are right that Meneghello 'sexed up' the deck. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it's not say 100 years old, but that's maybe not even the case. It is possible that Menegazzi had an 'old' deck and reprinted it but has no idea who the artist was, so he referenced the '1830 original' and stated that it was inspired by it. Of course, the other explanation that he drew it himself is plausible, but I don't see why he wouldn't put his name to it. I should just ask Cristina rather speculate any further.
 

gregory

The curator of the Museo passed my query on to Il Meneghello and I have just heard from Cristina as follows:

I'm Christina Dorsini, Art Director IL MENEGHELLO.
Morena turned me your email, so that I can answer to your question.

IL MENEGHELLO reprint the old deck Della Rocca 1830-1840 in 1998.
Reprinting was made starting from the original engravings, in the Master's hand. So the reissue is totally faithful to the original as all our issues.

With this opportunity also to inform you of news 2014by IL MENEGHELLO: the Piedmontese Tarot, which you can already see a preview on our facebook page www.facebook.com/Il-Meneghello-di-Osvaldo-Menegazzi

Now that you have my contacts for just about anything you can ask me directly. We are pleased to satisfy the curiosity of our collectors.
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So now we all know.
 

DeToX

Yeah I heard back from Cristina last night and said the same thing in not so many words. It's a facsimile. I don't think faux staining or vintage look on the supplementary card need necessarily mean the whole deck is 'sexed up' as the Meneghello Dotti tarot from 1845 has a vintage look Limited Edition card, which isn't quite the same look as the rest of the deck but close.
 

Sherryl

So, the whole issue of the cards being pencil drawings is irrelevant. It seems these cards are the closest to Della Rocca's conception - since they're from the naked engravings before they were colored, probably by someone other than Della Rocca, although we can't be certain.

Scurrying off to revise my blog post.
 
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