Medieval Scapini Tarot

by Luigi Scapini

published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1985

traditional card titles

eight: Justice; eleven: Strength

suits are wands, cups, swords and coins

courts are page, knight, queen and king

illustrated pips, no captions

backs non-symmetrical

     The artist of this pack has been a painter and sculptor since childhood.  “Scapini recreated the ‘missing’ cards from the hand-painted fifteenth century Cary-Yale and Peirpont Morgan-Bergamo tarocchi decks for the reproduction of the decks published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc., New York.  Luigi Scapini now lives in Verona with his wife, Claudia, and their two daughters, Giulia and Camilia….

     “Scapini’s fantastical tarot, whose intricate symbolism is animated by the chaos of everyday life, provides a perfect medium to transport the card reader back to medieval times….  The cards of the Medieval Scapini Tarot recreate the Middle Ages of Europe with symbolism, costume, and setting.”  Many of the images are inspired by masterpieces of the Renaissance.  All seventy-eight of these cards are rich tapestries which invite a magnifying glass.  Many of the details are funny!

     This Fool has stuck feathers in his hair.  This Magician lends one of his legs to his table.  This Popess holds the Book of Life.  This Empress sits on a dais supported by the Tarocchi de Mategna.  This Emperor sits on a dais supported by the four elements wreaking havoc in apocalyptic landscapes.  (His face is Stuart Kaplan’s!)  This Pope’s dais is supported by the seven vices.  These Lovers are modeled after Visconti-Sforza’s.  This Chariot rides the sky over Verona.  This Justice wears a crown with three doors.  This Hermit presides over a sea with a staff of seven roses, from bud to full bloom.  This golden Wheel of the zodiac has an angel at its hub.  This Force is modeled after a portrait by Piero della Francesca.  This Hanged Man drops coins into a whirlpool of sacrificial blood and water.  This Death dances with a scythe whose handle is a human spine.  (The artist is decapitated with his palette!)  This Temperance pours from a crescent moon into a gilded lion in a baptismal scene taken from a fresco in the church of Santa Croce.  This Devil has a tongue protruding from a terrible mouth in a terrible belly.  This Falling Tower emits a mushroom cloud.  This Star pours from a simple Doric vase and an elegant Attic vase while the artist’s personal raven perches on a rose.  This Moon has the largest crab I’ve ever seen emerging from the watery depths.  This Sun is carried by young Hercules.  This Judgment draws eyes up from despair to the clarion call of color.  This World characterizes the astrological corners according to Medieval assignation: Mark to the lion; Luke to the bull; Matthew to the man; and John to the eagle.