Far from being tiresome, the multitude of tarots "de Marseille" which follow permits the distinguishing of two groups. The first is characterized by a Cupid without hair, going towards the left, eyes blindfolded (Atout no. VI, l'Amoureux); a Devil whose stomach has a human face on card no. XV; the Moon (no. XVIII) shows a face; on the World no. XXI, a feminine figure dressed in a loincloth and cape. [and the two figures on the Sun are an adult male and female, barely wearing a sort of loincloth, while in Type II they are two infants of indeterminable sex. Finally, the Fool is named LE FOL, while in Type II, he is named LE MAT.]
The second type sees Cupid going to the right; he no longer has blindfolded eyes and his hair is curly. The Diable has a smooth belly, la Lune is in profile and the feminine figure is only clothed with a scarf and her left leg is bent.
The first type has some chance of being older: the solitary card of the World from the Castello Sforzesco, which is dated to the 16th century, shows the same feminine figure; the tarots of Jean Noblet (c. 1650 [c. 1660]), Jean-Pierre Payen (1713), Jean Dodal (c. 1715 [c. 1705]), Jean Payen (1743) are clear examples of this type. More unexpectedly, those of Cosmo Antonio Toso (Genoa, c. 1770?) and even Gummpenberg (Milan, end of the 18th century, of 'Milanese' type then current [cf. also Mann 1990, no. 205] are witness to the permanence of the model.
Finally, it becomes evident that the variant 'de Besançon', nearly to the smallest detail, comes from this Type I: the same Amoureux, the same Lune and the same Monde; on the other hand the Diable appears with a hairy body (Benoist and Carey at Strasbourg, Jerger and his successors at Besançon). It is interesting to compare the two tarots of François Heri, from Soleure, one undated (first half of 18th century), of Type I, but with Junon and Jupiter (it is certainly the first of the genre), the other, dated 1718, of Type II!
To this second Type belong the tarots of François Chosson (1672? [1762?]), Pierre Madenié (Dijon, 1709: finally recovered in its entirety), a number of Swiss tarots and classic tarots de Marseille (Conver, Bourlion, Tourcaty, etc.). Of course, there are those little pests who have mixed the two and with whom one finds a Lovers of Type II and a Devil of Type I... [see also D. Hoffmann, in Tarot, Tarock, Tarocchi, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, 1988, p. 11-12: 'Die Familie des Marseiller Tarock']
[Later addition:
TdM Type I is represented earlier than Type II; it is found at Lyon, Grenoble, Avignon; it disappeared after 1750, not before having engendered the 'Lombard' and 'Besançon' tarots. Some variants of the TdM Type II exist: a mixed form, combining Type I and Type II (M-I/II), a Type II with the Fool named LE FOL (M-IIa) and a Type II 'Genoan' with the Pendu in profile.
Type II is only known after 1700; it is found at Dijon, Besançon, in Switzerland, then at Marseille in the second half of the 18th century; it survived alone, or nearly, after 1800. According to D. Hoffmann, the Piedmontese Tarot (cf. for example that by Lando) comes from the TdM Type II (Hoffmann/Dietrich 1988, p. 12). The TdM Type II seems to be a "calmed", "humanised" version of TdM Type I: the Devil is less frightening, the feminine figure of the World is more feminine, that is, more "sexy" in regards to her hips and breasts (whereas the the corresponding figure in Type I is more "austere", less feminine). Briefly, the TdM Type II appears to me to be a "modernisation" of TdM Type I. Is it the work of Lyonnais cardmaker? of a Dijonnais? And how to explain its success in Marseille?]
