What is the difference between Visconti decks

I have just received my first Visconti deck, the "Visconti Tarot" ~ restored Visconti-Sforza in mini from Lo Scarabeo.

I understand the difference between these two is just that the Visconti Tarot is a restored version of the Visconti-Sforza and nothing more, am I right? I also understand the full size version of the Visconti Tarot has gold foil unlike the mini and the Viscont-Sforza, is that correct?

I have absolutely no experience with these decks so I must admit I am rather clueless as to the difference between decks other than the above.

What is the difference between the Cary-yale Visconti and the Visconti-Sforza?
Why are they all named "Visconti"? I can see the images of the Cary-Yale are different to the Visconti-Sforza.

I have also heard mention of other reproductions but am unsure as to what the names were now.

Please enlighten me as to the varying differences between all the Visconti decks.

Thankyou in advance.

ETA ~ I have been checking my mini Visconti Tarot against scans of the full size gold Visconti Tarot and have found some slight differences in the painting.
Is the mini different again from the full size, apart from the gold that is?
I'm officially confused.

They are called "Visconti" because the Visconti commissioned the cards.

Melbert B. Cary bought the deck in the 40's I beleive, then bequeathed it to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. Thus Cary-Yale.

The missing cards" ( some of the missing cards may be debatable) have been replaced by different artists..

here is start for you

Thankyou so much Crowned one.

Could you please see my edited post above and comment if possible?

I was under the impression the mini is a copy of the full size Visconti Tarot, sans gold leaf, but upon comparison I have found slight differences.

Are they the same version? Perhaps it is the quality of the scan. For instance, on the La Papessa card in my mini, where her head covering touches her shoulders are some fine black lines almost looking like fringe. On the scan of the gold full sized Visconti the black lines are longer and thicker.
These are only minor details and don't affect my use of the deck but am just wondering as I thought it was a mini of the larger version just without the gold.

I've never done a side-by-side comparison of the standard Lo Scarabeo and the mini, but if there are slight differences this wouldn't surprise me. They look so much alike I think people probably just assume they are identical, I did. Some of the differences might be accounted for by the size difference and, as you noted, the quality of the scans. They are the same deck though, the Pierpont Morgan Visconti Sforza.

The LS versions, both the standard size and your mini are in fact restorations. They're a lot like the originals but not exactly. This version by Dal Negro is a faithful reproduction.

The original Pierpont-Morgan Visconti-Sforza didn't have Devil or Tower cards (that anyone knows of anyway) so replacements have been created.

It can be a little confusing at first. It confused the heck out of me for a long time!

Thankyou Abrac, very helpful.

Yes it is confusing but at the same time extremely fascinating.
I love studying historical decks. Next on my list is the Marseilles, and even the RWS is full of interesting little tidbits.

The crowned one said:

They are called "Visconti" because the Visconti commissioned the cards.

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It would be more correct to say they are called Visconti because the Visconti heraldic devices are on some cards. It is also correct to note that there are Sforza heraldic devices on some cards too. Who comissioned them is debated.
It is my view that they were commisioned by Sforza for his wife Bianca who was a Visconti.
Hence they are commonly called Visconti-Sforza.

The Peirpont Morgan Bergamo deck is the most complete having 74 existing cards and this is the deck that has been copied/restored and is the hand of Atanassov a Russian miniaturist/illuminator.
The cards that are not there either by loss,theft or just plain were not included are Devil/Tower/3 swords/Knight Coins. So there are several versions of Devil and Tower depending on the printing house involved.

Fabulous deck!

~Rosanne

Ah, that makes a lot of sense Rosanne. Thank you for that information

Is the Dal Negro version availiable to purchase? If so, can you tell me which version it is?
I too am still in the 'confused' stage

Many thanks
Pathwalker

Rosanne said:

Who comissioned them is debated.


Fabulous deck!

~Rosanne

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Visconti-Sforza is sort of a collective name of a bunch of incomplete decks in private and public collections.

I feel the Cary-Yale is a Filippo Maria Visconti, as does the Yale library..but really who knows?

the lovers and coins seem to indicate that it is earlier then Sforza.

PathWalker, there are a couple of places that I know of, House of Tarot and Alida. The one at Alida is a lot less expensive, but I've never seen one like it. The box is different from the one at HoT. It says it's a limited edition. Maybe someone else knows what's up with it. US$99 at HoT seems outrageous to me; it's nice but not that nice.

The Dal Negro one is the Pierpont Morgan Bergamo Visconti-Sfoza, or just Pierpont Morgan Visconti-Sforza.