Temperance - Tarot card
14, Temperance
Other names: Temperantia
Oldest appearances:
- Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo (2nd artist)
- Von Bartsch MFA
- Este Cards
- Charles VI.
- Rosenwald
- group printed sheets
- Cary-Sheet (fragment)
- Catelin Geofroy
- Lombardy I (?)
In Greek sophrosyne, in Latin temperantia is one of the four cardinal virtues. As Plato explains in the Republic, it controls the concupiscent appetite and it essentially consists, as Aristotle makes clear in Nicomachea Ethics, of a moderation of sensitive pleasures in compliance with the requirements of the “straight reason”. Saint Thomas in the Summa Theologiae writes “Temperance that implies moderation, mainly consists in regulating the passions that stretch to the sensitive goods, and that are concupiscence and pleasures, and indirectly regulating sadness and pains that derive from the absence of these pleasures” (quaestio 2, articulum 2). The moderating person is therefore the one that is strained to resist to the attraction of passions and pleasures, in particular sensual ones, when they become excessive.
In the XVIth Sermones de Ludo the Temperance is just put close to Love as a virtue that teaches the moderation of instincts.
Temperance is generally represented in illuminated tarots (figure 1 - Visconti Sforza Tarot / figure 2 - Charles VI Tarot) in its more common version: a young girl in the action of pouring water from a container into another containing wine, which is meant to mitigate, to dampen what is too exciting. It expresses therefore the necessity to dominate certain instincts, that, through this virtue, they become balanced.
An iconographic variant of remarkable interest appears in Alessandro Sforza’s Tarot (figure 3). A nude woman is seated on the back of a deer, turning her shoulders towards the head of the animal. With her right hand she pours water from a cup making the liquid fall on her sex, which she covers with her left hand (figure 4). The cup seems to be less striking, as it has been impressed by punching together with other decorative elements (figure 5). It is a particular representation of the Temperance: a fable about ancient gods used as moral training, in accordance with the typical praxis of the time.
It is now necessary to emphasize the function that the “ancient gods” myths had in the medieval ages, in relation to the Christian allegory. Fundamental to this are the studies of Jean Seznec who in his work The Survival of the Ancient Gods writes: “Mythology stretched to transform into a moral philosophy: and Philosophia moralis is not by chance the title of a work of the eleventh century, attributed to Ildeberto of Lavardin, bishop of Tours, which brings numerous examples of allegorical interpretation taken from pagan poets as well as from the Bible. But at the same time mythology stretched to also fuse with theology: as well as, renewing the tradition of the Fathers, the medieval allegorical genius discovered in the personages and in the episodes of the Old Testament forecasts of the New Alliance, in the same way that it discovered in the personages and the episodes of mythology forecasts of the Christian Truth.
Really, starting from the twelfth century, in which allegory assumes the function of a universal vehicle of every manifestation of religious “pietas” (Pity), the mythological interpretation comes to an amazing development. This is in fact the age in which Alexander Neckham connects gods of paganism with the virtues that, according to Saint Augustin, lead man to the Saint Christian detection; the age in which Guglielmo of Conches, commenting in the De consolatione philosophiae by Boezio, discovers in Euridice a symbol of the inner concupiscence of the human heart, and in the war of the Giants against Zeus the rebellion of our bodies made with mud against the spirit; and still the age in which Bernardo of Chartres and his disciple Giovanni of Salisbury put the pagan polytheism at the centre of their own meditation, "not to respect its false divinities, but because they hide mysterious instructions inaccessible to common people. But above all this is the age in which the Metamorphosis of Ovid profuse to sagacious interpreters unsuspicious treasures of saint truth” (1990, page 122).
According to the Christian meaning, the Temperance has the task of taming in a principalled way, sensuality and sexual pleasures, and so between the virtues and connected to it there is Chastity. In the Tabernacolo by the Orcagna (Florence, Orsammichele) the four cardinal virtues are represented, each one placed side by side with the connected virtues, according to Saint Thomas precepts; in particular, Humility and Virginity are connected to Temperance.
The representation in Alessandro Sforza’s card is connected to the Greek myth of Diane, that rises as a moral training allegory. The goddess, during the recurrence of the Anados, her annual apparition, a moment in which she renewed her virginity bathing in a sacred source, was watched and wished with concupiscence by Atteone. Furious, the goddess changed him into a deer (figure 6 - Ceramic Plate, ca.1535. International Museum of the Ceramics, Faenza) an animal directly connected to her myth as goddess of hunting, that was called “elafebòlos”, that means deer darter. But the deer was also considered as an animal symbolic of mildness and provided with many qualities. In the Tuscany Bestiary Libro sulla natura degli animali (Book of the nature of the animals) a medieval moral essay, the Christian is repeatedly invited, through opportune animal examples, to exercise the virtues demanded by his profession of faith and to the constant practice of confession and penance. This work tells of how the deer was able to kill the snakes, in order then to eat them and to get rid of the ingested poison drinking pure water. From this behaviour there is a precept of moral training “Also men must imitate it, getting rid of hatred, of lust, of rage, of the avarice resorting to the alive source, that is Christ” (Chapter XLVI).
In the myth Diane is always a virgin goddess: her constant ritual is the gesture to reach and to pour water, element of regeneration and purification. For this reason in Rome the vestal virgin temples were built between small woods in proximity of sources gushing from cliffs. Diana completes hers ritual of purification in order not to dampen eventual ardours (since the goddess is always virgin) but pouring water in her “water” (her sex, as container connected to liquids) she’s in contact with energies of the two waters, renewing her virginal purity.
Being based on the described myth the representation assumes a moral worth: as Diana has prevailed on Atteone, symbol of temptation and she has made him mild, in the same way men must tame and submit instincts, maintaining chastity drawing from the holy water of the Temperance.
The position assumed by the Goddess over the deer is not unusual in the late medieval art. In a Venice mortar of the XV century a fantastic animal is mounted by a putto exactly in the same way (figure 7), while in a capital of the Ducal Building in Venice we find a similar attitude in the fourteenth-century astrological representation of The Sun on the Lion (figure 8). Such composing typology, set to affirm a complete dominion upon the ridden being, as we find even in the card of Strength in the Tarot of Yale (figure 9), has its origin in the representations by Aristotle and Phyllis of which exists ample documentation in Middle Ages and the Renaissance art (figura 10 - Memmo di Filippuccio, documented from 1288 to 1324, The Profane Love, detail with Aristotle and Phyllis, fresco. Civic Museum, San Gimignano)
In the card of the so-called Mantegna Tarots an ermine appears at the feet of the young girl (figure 11). The Ripa in his essay of iconology writes that in order to represent this virtue: “si puo ancora dipingere l’ermellino, per la gran cura che ha di non imbrattare la sua bianchezza, simile a quella di una persona casta” (It is still possible to paint the ermine, for the great care it takes to not smear its whiteness, similar to that of a chaste person) (page 102, ed. 1613). In Etteilla cards (Grand Etteilla II) Temperance is represented as a child who has a bite on her hand, with the obvious symbolic function of refraining the ardours, and by an elephant, also a symbol of chastity (figure 12) as it appears in the figure of the Temperance in the Ripa essay (figure 13). About this concept he writes: “L’ elefante è posto per la Temperanza, perche essendo assuefatto da una certa quantita di cibo non vuol mai passare il solito, prendendo solo tanto, quanto è sua usanza per cibarsi" (The elephant is placed for the Temperance, as being accustomed to a certain quantity of food it never wants more than usual, just taking as much as it is used to in order to feed itself” (page 297, ed. 1613).
Extract WWPCM, special Tarot motifs with related deck
Visconti Tarocchi
Deck * I Tarocchi dei Visconti Sforza - Italy, Dal Negro (reprint of original from after 1450)
Deck * I Tarocchi dei Visconti - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (remake of 1995)
Deck * Italy Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Incomplete Visconti Tarocchi
Deck * Pierpont Morgan, Visconti Sforza - Switzerland, AGM (1975, reprint of ca. 1450)
Tarot de Marseille
Deck * VSS, Germany (2001, reprint of 1930/1748)
Deck * Grimaud, Tarot of Marseilles - France (1963, reprint of 1761 of Nicolas Convert)
Deck * Fournier, Tarot of Marseilles - Spain (1984, reprint of 18th century)
Deck * Tarot de Marseille, reprint AGMüller, Switzerland (1870)
Deck * Fournier, Le Tarot de Marseille - France (1992)
Incomplete versions of Tarot de Marseille
Deck * 1743, by Jean Payen, Tarot de Marseille / 1760 complete version of Nicolaus Conver, reprint of 1860
Deck * G.Drago, Tarot of Marseilles - Italy (ca. 1790)
Deck * Gorizia, Tarot of Marseilles (18th c.)
Deck * Berti, Tarot of Marseilles (18th c.)
Deck * Tarot of Marseilles - Italy, unknown (ca. 1830)
Deck * Gassmann, Tarot of Marseilles - Switzerland (1840 - 1860)
Tarot Besancon
Deck * 1920, probably older woodblocks from J.Jerger, "Renault", Tarot de Besancon
Incomplete versions of Tarot Besancon
Deck * 1748, reprint from ca. 1889 by "Grimaud" France, called "Ancient Tarot de Marseille" edition by Arnoult
Deck * Besancon Tarot, ca 1760, Goebl (Bavaria)
Tarocco Piemontese
Deck * Fabbrica di Vergnano, Tarocco Piedmontese, Italy ca. 1850
Deck * 1884, A. Viassione (Torino, Italy) Tarocco Piemontese
Deck * Dal Negro (Italy), Tarocchi Piemontese
Tarot Belgique
Deck * Tarot Flamand - Swiss, AGM (reprint from 1780, Vandenboerre deck)
Deck * 1831/1974, reproduction AGMüller (Suisse), Tarot
Deck * ca. 1870 "J.Gaudais" (Paris, France), deck "Tarot", (!!!) with Juno + Jupiter - pair
Egypt Tarot and variations
Deck * AGMuller, Switzerland) for USGS, USA, "Egipcios Kier Tarot"
Deck * Ibis Tarot (Egypt Tarot) - Russia, by Josef Machynka (modern)
Deck * Union Chernobil, "Egypt Tarot", Russia 2006
Rider-Waite-Smith and variations
Deck * Novosibirsk, Tarot of A.Waite - Russsia (1909/2001)
Deck * Universal Waite Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland
Deck * The Golden Rider Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland
Deck * De tarot in de Herstelde Orde - Holland, Servire (1995)(changed numbers)
Deck * since 2002, "Carta Mundi" (Belgium), publisher "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Universal Tarot"
Deck * Tarot of the New Vision - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2003)
Older decks with traditional number-row:
Deck * I Tarocchini - Italy, Dal Negro (reprint of 1665 Mitelli-deck)
Deck * Classical Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2000, engravings from 1835)
Deck * Papus Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1989, original from 1889, small arcana from 1981)
Deck * Tarot of the Master (2002), remake of a deck of 1893, Lo Scarabeo
Deck * Cartomanzia Italiana, Solleone, Italy (19th/1983)
Deck * 1910 - 1912, Guglielmo Murari, deck "I Tarocchi"
Deck * 1922, Fratelli Armanino (Rome), Tarocchi
Deck * Crowley Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland (1938-1944 / 1978)
Deck * Fournier, Spanish Tarot - Spain(1992)
Incomplete older decks with traditional number row
Deck * Tarot de Paris, 17th century, unknown reprint
Deck * Gumppenberg, Historical Tarock, Italy (1812)
Deck * ca. 1870, "Grimaud" (France) deck "Tarot"
Deck * 1885, Edoardo Dotti, Milan, Dellarocca Tarot
Deck * Venezian Tarock - Italy, Modiano (1964)
New Periode decks:
Deck * Aquarian Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1970)
Deck * Morgan-Greer Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1999 ?, first published 1979)
Deck * Hermetic Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1980)
Deck * I Tarocchi di Enzo Viviani, 1980/81, limited edition (no small arcana)
Deck * Hanson-Roberts Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1984)
Deck * Tarot Cat People - USA, USGS (since 1985)
Deck * Deva Tarot - Austria, Piatnik (1986)
Deck * Eclectic Tarot - Austria, Piatnik (1986)
Deck * Barbara Walker Tarot, 1986
Deck * Arcus Arcanum Tarot - Switzerland, AGMüller (1986)
Deck * Capital - I Tarocchi del Manager, artist Giorgio Ghidoli, 1986
Deck * Mythic Tarot, 1986 (1997 Chinese edition)
Deck * Mithological Tarot, KSP+, Russia (1986/1999)
Deck * Herbal Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1988)
Deck * 1988/1998 "Llewellyn Publications" (USA), deck "Gypsy Fortune Telling Tarot"
Deck * Gypsy Tarot, Russia 2005, reprint "Gypsy Fortune Telling Tarot" (1988/98)
Deck * Ansata Tarot - Switzerland, AGMuller (ca. 1988 ?) (no small Arcana)
Deck * Tarot of the Ages - Swiss, AGM (1988)
Deck * Art Nouveaux Tarot, Carta Mundi, Belgium (1989)
Deck * Enchanted Tarot - USA, St.M.Press (1990)
Deck * Haindl Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1990)
Deck * Tarot of the Origins, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (1991/2000)
Deck * Tarot of the Imagination, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (1991, 2000)(small Arcana incomplete)
Deck Lo Scarabeo, Tarocchi dei Celti, Italy 1991
Deck * Tarot of the Gold Dawn, Fair-Press, Russia (1991, 2001)
Deck * Tarot, Unisam, Russia (1992) (no small arcana)
Deck * Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg - Swiss, AGM (1992)
Deck * Egorov Tarot - Austria, Piatnik (1992)
Deck * Tarot of lovers, KSP+, Russia (1992/2000)
Deck * Tarot-93 - Russia, Mozaisk (1993)
Deck * Medieval Scapini Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1994)
Deck * Tarot of Ceremonial Magick - USA, USGS (since 1994)
Deck * Piatnik, Tarot, Austria (1995)
Deck * I Tarocchi Dell'Alba Dorata (Tarots of the Golden Dawn) - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1995)
Deck * Tarot of the Gnomes - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1995)
Deck * Illuminating Ancient Tarots - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1995, based on Sola Busca from 1491)
Deck * Hudes Tarot, 1995, USA
Deck * 1995, "Carta Mundi" (Belgium) for "USGS" (USA), deck "Unicorn Tarot", Artist Liz Hilton
Deck * 1996, "AGMuller" (Switzerland), for "USGS" (USA), deck No.12.468 "Tarot of Gemstones and Crystals"
Deck * Rock Art Tarot, 1996
Deck * Old English Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1996)
Deck * Kalevala Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1996)
Deck * Kazanlar Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland (1996)
Deck * Cosmic Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland (1997)
Deck * RenaissanceTarot - Swiss, AGM (1997)
Deck * Diamond Tarot - Switzerland, AGMuller (1997)
Deck * "USGS" (USA), printed in China, deck "The Zerner&Farber Tarot", 1997
Deck * "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "The Fairy Tarots", 1998, publisher "Fair-press" (Russia), designed by Antonio Lupatelli
Deck * Tarot: Oracle of the Tsar Solomon - Lithuania, Calendar (1998) (additional great arcana)
Deck * Tarot of the Sephiroth Swiss, AGM (1998)
Deck * The Renaissance Tarot - USA, Fireside (1998)
Deck * Art Nouveau Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1998)
Deck * The Goddess Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1998)
Deck * Tavaglione Tarot (Stairs of Gold Tarot) - Russia (1998 ?)
Deck * The Secret Tarots, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (1998)
Deck * Shapeshifter / Tarot of Transformations, Nirwana, Russia (1998/2001)
Deck * Baphomet, Tarot of the Underworld, Urania, Switzerland (1999) (no small arcana)
Deck * Fantastical Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1999)
Deck * The Celtic Dragon Tarot - USA, Llewellyn (1999)
Deck * Nefertari's Tarots - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1999)
Deck * Workman Publishing, "Baseball Tarot", USA 1999
Deck * Transcendential Tarot "Key of Hermes", Russia, A.Zaraev (1999)
Deck * Tarot of Spiritual Evolution "Key of Hermes" Russia, A.Zaraev (1999)
Deck * One World Tarot, 1999
Deck * Votre Tarot, France 2000
Deck * Celtic Tarot - Belgium, Carta Mundi (2000)
Deck * Magic Tarot - Russia, KSP+ (2000)
Deck * Vedic Tarot - Russia, KSP+ (2000)
Deck * The Cosmic Tribe Tarot - Russia, KSP+
Deck * Ppus Tarot - Ukraine, Siromjatnikoff (2000)
Deck * Duerer Tarot - TarotClub(2000) (no small arcana)
Deck * Tarot of Casanova - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2000)
Deck * The Crystal Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2000)
Deck * The Vampire Tarot - USA, USGS (since 2000)
Deck * Animal Tarot - USA, Paula Gibby (ca. 2000)
Deck * The Blue Rose Tarot - USA, Paula Gibby (ca. 2000)
Deck * Union Chernobil, Cards of Tarot - Russia (2001)
Deck * Mirror of fate - Russia, unknown (2001)
Deck * Gregori Tarot, Russia, unknown (2001)
Deck * Secret Tarot - Belgium, Carta Mundi (2001)
Deck * Tarot of Third Millenium (Röhrig Tarot) - Russia, Tarot Academy (2001)
Deck * 2000, "Carta Mundi" (Belgium), for "USGS" (USA), deck "Whimsical Tarot", Artist Mary Hanson-Roberts
Deck * Tarot of the Sphinx, 2001, Lo Scarabeo
Deck * Decameron Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2002)
Deck * Etruscan Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2002)
Deck * Zinatne, "Latvian Tarot", Latvia 2002
Deck * Tarot of Nostradamus's dreams - Russia, Starcklight (2002)
Deck * Gold Tarot of doctor Paracelsus - Russia, KSP+ (2002)
Deck * Tarot of ancient wisdom (Old Path) - Russia (2002)
Deck * Universal Tarot (Connolly Tarot)- Russia, unknown (2002)
Deck * Tarot of Fortune - Russia, CPP (2002)
Deck * Round tarot of Woman Authority (Mother Peace 2) - Russia, North Scoop (2002)
Deck * Tarot Major Arcana - Russia (2002) (no small arcana)
Deck * Olympus Tarot, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (2002)
Deck * The Golden Tarot of the Tsar, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (2002)
Deck * Tarot of the Journey to the Orient (Marco Polo), 2002, Lo Scarabeo
Deck * Celtic Tarot, Russia 2003
Deck * Rocambol Tarot, Russia 2003
Deck * New Century Tarot, 2003, USA
Deck * Leonardo da Vinci Tarot, 2003 (Lo Scarabeo)
Deck * Cabbalistic Tarot G.O.M. - Switzerland, Aenigma (2003)
Deck * Manara Tarot - Russia, Avvalon (2003)
Deck * Osho Zen Tarot - Russia, unknown (2003)
Deck * Casanova Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * Russian Love Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * India Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * Tarot of Prague - Czech, A.Ukolov (ca. 2003)
Deck * Love Tarot 2 - Ukraine, unknown, (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * Tarot of Mermaids - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2003)
Deck * The Matrix reloaded - Ukraine, unknown, (2003)
Deck * Magic Tarot, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * 2003, unknown (Ukraine), Tarot
Deck * 2004, unknown (Russia), Tarot
Deck * 2004, "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Dragons Tarot", designed by Manfredi Toraldo & Severino Baraldi
Deck * 2004, "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Tarot of Druids", designed by Bepi Vigna, Severino Baraldi, Antonio Lupatelli
Deck * 2004, "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Fey Tarot", Artist Mara Aghem
Deck * Arkaim, Apollo Tarot, Russia 2004
Deck * Arkaim, Shakespeare Tarot, Russia 2004
Deck * Arkaim, Tales Tarot, by V. Trosinenko, Russia 2004
Deck * Arkaim, Bible Tarot by M. Parhetova, Russia 2004
Deck * Labyrinth Tarot, Spain 2005, by Luis Royo
Deck * 'Book World', Da Vinci Tarot, Russia 2006, reprint of "The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot", 2005
Deck * 2005 "Avvallon " (Russia) deck "Tarot of the 78 doors", reprint of "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy) edition designed by Pietro Alligo & Antonella Platano
Deck * Tarot Love, 2005, Russia
Deck * Union Chernobil, Silver Age Tarot, Russia 2006
Deck * Roberto Meiattini, Tarocco erotico dei giardini di priapo, designed by Amerigo Folchi
Deck * The Tarot of Durer - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (modern)
Deck * Russian Tarot - Russia, unknown (Victor Bakhtin ?)(modern)
Deck * Tarot of Magic Raven - Russia, unknown (modern)
Deck * Palladini Tarot - unknown (modern)
Deck * Mysterious Tarot of Egypt - Russia, Novosibirsk (modern)
Deck * Holy Tarot of Tot, Russia, Sofia (modern)
Deck * CPP, Tarot - Russia (modern)
Deck * Tarot of Aquarius's era - Russia, CPP (modern)
Deck * The New Orleans VooDoo Tarot - USA, Destiny Books (modern)
Deck * I Tarocchi - Italy, unknown (production time unknown) (no small arcana)
Deck * Tarot Floral (modern), Lo Scarabeo
Animal Tarot, complete
Deck * ca. 1790 Claude Rochais Animal Tarock
Deck * Daveluy, Animal Tarot - Belgium (19th/20th c. ?)
Deck * Animal Tarot, Geuens Seaux, Belgium
Deck * Adler Cego Tarot - Germany, ASS (1976), since 1931 (?)
Animal Tarot, incomplete
Deck * A. Göbl, Bavarian Animal Tarot - Germany (1750)
Deck * ca. 1780, Guilleaume Mann, Colmar (Germany), Bavarian Animal Tarot
Deck * 1790, J. M. Backofen, Bavarian Animal Tarot
Deck * 1795, J. de Porre (Belgium), Animal Tarot
Deck * J.G.Backofen, Animal Tarock, Germany (1800)
Deck * ca. 1800, unknown, (Luebeck, Germany), Baltic Tarot
Deck * Industrie-Comptoir, Animal Tarot - Germany (1810)
Deck * ca. 1815, Jacob Wokaun (Czechia), Upper Austrian animal Tarot
Deck * Sewera, Animal Tarock - Czechia (1849)
Deck * Uffenheimer - Animal Tarock (1837)
Deck * C.T.Sutor, Animal Tarock (19th c. ?)
Deck * CPP, Tarock with Animals - Russia (1920)
Military Tarot, complete
Deck * Piatnik, Soldaten Tarock - Austria (1918)
Military Tarot, incomplete
Deck * ca. 1785, Martin Boehme (?), Dresden Germany, Military Tarot
Deck * F.Eurich, Tarock - Austria (1816)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef, Military Tarock - Austria (1854)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef, Military Tarock - Austria (1858)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef Military Tarock - Austria (1865 or 63)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef, Military Tarock - Austria (1885)
Tarock with buildings, complete
Deck * Franz Xaver Milchram, Grazer Tarock, Austria 1825, reprinted by Piatnik 1995
Deck * Pittner, Graz Tarock - Austria (1870)
Deck * Piatnik, Tarot - Austria (1974, reprint of 19th)
Deck * S.Salomon&Co, Holmblads Spillekort Forretning - Denmark (ca. 1910)
Deck * Frommann&Morian, Ansichtentarock, Germany 1929
Incomplete Tarock with buildings
Deck * "J.G.Uffenheimer" Tarock (?), Germany c.1830
Deck * "J.G.Uffenheimer" Tarock, Austria (?) c.1830
Other decks (mainly Tarock for playing) - usually trumps and courts
Deck * Mythology Tarock, 1820, Hungary
Deck * Industrie-Comptoir, Tarock, Germany 1839
Deck * Piatnik, Industrie und Gluck Tarock - Austria (since 1843)
Deck * "Il Meneghello", deck "Tarocco Maria Stuarda", Italy 2004, reprint of c.1845 edition of "Fabrica Dotti" (Milan)
Deck * Glanz, Constitution Tarock - Austria (1848)
Deck * Piatnik, Habsburger Tarock, Austria 1850, reprinted 1993
Deck * Dondorf, Microscopic Tarock - Germany (1858-1933)
Deck * Piatnik, Can-Can Tarock, Austria, since c.1860
Deck * C.L.Wuest, Tarot - Germany (since 1890)
Deck * Catel, Jeu de Tarot - France (19th/20th ?)
Deck * Grimaud standard deck - France (groups of persons)(19th/20th ?)
Deck * Vannak, Szerencse Fel Tarock - Hungary (1901)
Deck * Joseph Glanz, Tarock No.1 - Austria (1906)
Deck * Modiano, Alan-Tarock - Italy (since 1910)
Deck * Alan Tarot - Italy, Modiano (since 1981, reprint of 1910)
Deck * Erste Slowenische Spielkartenfabrik, Tarock (1912)
Deck * Franz Adametz, Industrie und Gluck Tarock, Austria since 1930
Deck * Tarot des Regions de France - France, Grimaud (1986)
Deck * Fournier, Nuevo Juego del Tarot - Spain (1977)
Deck * 1991, Kolin (Czechia), Taroky
Deck * Jeu de Tarot, France, Heron (20th c. ?)
Deck * Tarocco, Modiano, Italy
Deck * French Tarock, ASS
Incomplete other decks (mainly Tarock for playing)
Deck * Sachsentarock, ca. 1778, Breitkopf - Leipziger Kartenfabrik
Deck * A.Goebl Tarock, Germany c.1780
Deck * 1800 J.D. Backofen, Tarock ?
Deck * 18th P.F. Ulrich, Tarock
Deck * J.C.DuPort, Tarock - Poland (18th c.)
Deck * C.F.Pfeiffer, Tarock - Germany (18th/19th c. ?)
Deck * Napoleon Tarock - France, unknown (1808)
Deck * Turkey - Germany. unknown (1810)
Deck * Estel, Chinese Tarock - Austria (1820)
Deck * Joseph Estel, Tarot - Austria (1823)
Deck * Mythology Tarock, 1825, Frankfurt
Deck * Bechstein - Tarock, Germany (1835)
Deck * Emil Hirschfeld, Tarot - Austria (1844)
Deck * "?" Austria "Chinese Tarock", c.1850
Deck * Kobitsch, Tarock - Germany (1855)
Deck * Piatnik, Hunter Tarock, Austria (1856)
Deck * Dondorf, Cego Tarot -Germany (since 1858)
Deck * C.Titze&Schinkay, Tarot (since 1859)
Deck * Joseph Glanz, Tarot - Austria (1865)
Deck * F.Pittner, Tarock - Austria (1865)
Deck * Piatnik, Fools Tarock, Austria (1865 or 55)
Deck * ca. 1890 "Grimaud" (France), deck "Classical Deities Tarot",
Deck * LeQuart, Classical Deities Tarock - France (1890)
Deck * Ceska Grafika, Tarock - Czechia (ca. 1890)
Deck * ca. 1890, "Willeb" (Paris, France), deck "Tarot"
Deck * Tarock - Austria, unknown (19th c. ?)
Deck * Dondorf, Tarot - Germany (19th c.)
Deck * H.F.Mueller, Tarot - Austria (19th/20th c.)
Deck * Grimaud, Tarot Francais des Fleurs - France (1902)
Deck * ASS, Proverbs Tarock - Germany (1920)
Deck * August Denk, Tarock - Austria (1925)
Deck * VSS, Tarock, Germany (1925)
Deck * Bielefelder Cego - Germany (1954)
Deck * Tarot Comedians Francaise, Heron, Dusserre, France
Tarocco Siciliano, changed row and motifs, 64 cards
- a special treasure, as till now there is not too much to the Tarocco Siciliano in the web. There is an article connected to the decks.
Deck * 19th century "Lorenzo di Lorenzo" (Italy), deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * 19th century "La Fortuna" (Italy) deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * since 1966, "Modiano" (Italy), deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * 18th century "Tuzzolino" (Italy), deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * 1930 - 1975 "Concetta Campione" (Catania, Italy) deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Minchiate, changed row and motifs, 97 cards
Deck * Il Meneghello, "Minchiate Fiorentine", Italy 1986, reprint of design c. 1820 and first print after 1862
Deck * Al Leone, "Minchiate Fiorentine", (Bologna, Italy) c.1790, reprint by Edizioni del Prado/Ediciones del Prado, Madrid, Spain, 2004
Deck * "Carte di Etruria" (Italy), c.1725, reprint by "LoScarabeo" (Italy) as "Antiche Minchiate Etruria", 1996
Incomplete Minchiate
Deck * unknown, Firenze, Italy, "Florence Minchiate", c.1700 (?)
Etteilla Tarot, altered row
Deck * Esoteric Ancient Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1997, based on Etteilla deck from 1870)
Deck * Grimaud, "Grand Etteilla", France, edition of 1910
Deck * "Rei Mundy" (Belgium) for Russia deck "Grand Etteilla", 2006 designed by V.Zaichenko
Incomplete Etteilla deck
Deck * end of 18th century, "Bezu" ? (France), "Grand Etteilla"
Deck * Egyptian Tarot, France - unknown(1845)
Deck * Delarue, Le Grand Jeu de l'Oracle des Dames, France 1870, together with a complete reprint of 2003 by Lo Scarabeo, "The Book of Toth"
Tarot cards
Tarot card Fool
Tarot card Magician
Tarot card Popess
Tarot card Empress
Tarot card Emperor
Tarot card Pope
Tarot card Love
Tarot card Chariot
Tarot card Justice
Tarot card Hermit
Tarot card Wheel of Fortune
Tarot card Strength
Tarot card Hanging Man
Tarot card Death
Tarot card Temperance
Tarot card Devil
Tarot card Tower
Tarot card Star
Tarot card Moon
Tarot card Sun
Tarot card Judgment
Tarot card World
Author's site
Tarot history
Tarot and Playing Cards Museum
Tarot Iconography
Fortune Telling
Iconography of Mantegna Tarocchi
Tarot card iconography of Andrea Vitali