From an oral tradition to the Tarot as history...
French original and translation by Jean-Claude and Roxanne
Flornoy
A History of the Game of Tarot
A game of cards known as “naïbbi” appeared
in Florence, Italy around 1375 and by the end of the 14th
century had diffused throughout Western Europe. Were the
naïbbi an ancestor of the tarot, or were the trumps
and face cards added later?
We have no idea.
The 1377 archives of the town of Viterbe, between Rome
and Florence, furnish the first edict seeking to regulate
or even forbid games of chance and money. These records
cite the naG¸bbi as having been brought to Italy
by the “sarrasin” Hayl. This marks the beginning
of a long list of interdictions.
The first nearly complete tarot (74 of 78 cards) to come
down to us is the early 15th century (c.1420-1425) Visconti-Sforza
princely Tarot. It is known as the “Pierpont Morgan
Bergame”, and was probably painted by Bonifacio Bembo.
Of these princely tarots, there remain 239 cards from 11
different decks. They are large, hand-painted on thick
cardboard and could not have been used as a game.
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The Emperor
Visconti-Sforza (Pierpont-Morgan)
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The Emperor
Cary-Yale Visconti
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To the basic game are added 21 + 1 cards which the Italians
called TRIOMPHES and the French ATOUTS or “trumps”.
Numbered from 1 to 21, with an unnumbered 22nd called the
Excuse, Fool or Mat, these trumps dominate all the others
and guarantee victory.
The Tarot’s success among the popular classes was
stunning. Played for money, the game spread like wildfire.
It also seduced the ruling classes: numerous Princely
Tarots, illuminated by the finest artists of the day, have
come down to us: Visconti-Sforza Tarot (Milan, c. 1425), “Charles
VI” Tarot (Northern Italy, late 15th century), etc.
These tarots were probably used only for divination.
The Emperor
"Charles VI" Tarot
We also possess a few 16th (tarot of Catelin Geofroy)
and 17th (tarots of Jacques Viéville, Jean Noblet
and “anonymous parisian”) century popular versions,
stencil-coloured woodblock prints.
...moving along
The archetypical Tarot of Marseille, made by Nicolas Conver
in his Marseille workshop in the middle of the 18th century,
served as a model for the editors Lequart and Grimaud when
they proposed a playing tarot in about 1890. Paul Marteau
later based his 1930 symbolic tarot on their work.
Paul Marteau presented himself as a simple restorer, but
in aligning himself with the esotericism of his time he
in fact produced an original version. A comparison with
Conver’s 1760 Tarot, which Marteau claimed to reproduce,
provides unequivocal proof of this. Edited in several languages,
Marteau’s tarot owed its global success as much to
the huge distribution effort of his editor as to the skill
of the “restorer”.
Today the Marteau remains the best-selling Tarot of Marseille,
the one most employed in divination. This is largely due
to its availability and to the fact that few tarot enthusiasts
in our time recognize the importance of traditional iconography.
Marteau has produced a “copy” of Convers line,
but doesn’t go so far as to depict the figure in
XVII the Star as pregnant. In reality she is bearing, being
well situated in a creative here and now, the future of
traditional knowledge and its transmission. Marteau does
conscientiously reproduce the vague roll of fabric below
her left knee, but surely had no idea that this (leaving
the left knee “unveiled”) was one of the traditional
signs of a master.
The Star
Nicolas Conver
It is with respect to colours, however, that Marteau most
demonstrates his ignorance of image content: light blue
(the colour evoking oceanisation: the possibility of entering
into the fetal mode of perception, in which we are directly
connected to the world surrounding us) no longer exists,
and the position and volume of the remaining shades is
considerably altered. Conver, one of the last to suspect
there was something to be directly apprehended through
these images, depicts the young woman kneeling in the water
while pouring more water into it. Arcanum XVII belongs
to the stage of Mastery, and this figure can now contribute
to the collective pool without disturbing it. The large
amount of light blue testifies to the strong presence of
inspiration. Dark blue is limited to a small area, expressing
the long-acquired ability to come to terms with accumulated
sufferings. When we take these nuances into account, we
can see to what extent Marteau’s version is non-sense.
This deformed “traditional” tarot was destined
to pollute most of the Marseilles versions which followed
it.
Times change. Now, at the end of the 20th century, a great
need for authenticity is becoming manifest. Before the
incredible multiplicity of novelty or “adapted” tarots,
a return to the source has become necessary.
I have re-edited the major arcana of both the Noblet and
Dodal tarots. Respect for the tradition guided this realization:
fidelity to the original line is paramount, as is the restitution
of colors which have been degraded over time and reduced
in number by the cost-cutting efforts of successive editors.
At the end of the 18th century, Court de Gébelin,
in line with the views of a burgeoning Freemasonry, claimed
that the Tarot expressed the hidden knowledge of the ancients,
a wisdom originating in pharonic Egypt.
The 19th century would accept this version of the Tarot
wholeheartedly, drawing it increasingly away from a pub
game and conferring on it an ever more esoteric and divinatory
character.
In the 20th century, these two versions have come to coexist.
On the one hand is the game called Federation, devoid of
all esotericism, with images issued from the popular press
at Epinal. It contains the habitual four suits: Spades,
Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. On the other hand, innumerable
artistic or divinatory Tarots proliferated. These were
not destined to be played as a game.
The Tarot “of Marseille”
The Tarot’s major arcana (the 22 added trumps) are
a coded description of an individual’s journey through
life, from incarnation to liberation. The scene has always
been shared by two pictorial traditions.
The “Milanese” tradition, that of
the image-makers, is represented by the Tarot “of
Marseille”, the city-name referring to a style rather
than to its place of origin. In any case, the oldest extant
printed deck comes not from Marseille, but from the mid-17th
century Paris atelier of Jean Noblet.
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The Emperor
Jean Noblet - 1650
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The Emperor
Jean-Claude Flornoy's restoration
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Issued from this tradition are also the tarot of Jean
Dodal (Lyon, c. 1701/1715), that of Jean-Pierre Payen (Avignon,
1713), and the famous tarot of Nicolas Conver (Marseille,
1760).
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The Emperor
Jean Dodal - c. 1701/1715
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The Emperor
Jean-Claude Flornoy's restoration
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The Piedmontese pictorial tradition, that of
foremen and stonecutters, is known also as the Tarot of
Bologna (itself issued from a Rouen-Brussels tradition)
and is principally expressed in the Tarot of Jacques Viéville
(Paris, 1650).
The Marseille Tarot presents significant graphic differences
with that of Bologna. In arcanum XV, The Devil is seen
full-face rather than in profile. In arcanum XVI, The House
of God, a tower erupting in flames is replaced by a shepherd
with his flock at the foot of a tree. The Star, arcanum
XVII, substitutes a pregnant woman for an architect, while
in The Moon, arcanum XVIII, a pool sheltering a crayfish
becomes a spinner with a spindle.
One can cite a third tradition, one that appears at the
beginning of the 15th century: artistic tarots. This tradition
originates with the princely decks (probably used for divination)
already mentioned, and continues to this day. Even Salvadore
Dali painted his own Tarot!
It is useless to try and draw any inner meaning from these
often beautiful works. The aesthetic process takes complete
precedence over the veritable traditional science.
Visit Jean-Claude
Flornoy's Website for more information about The
Tarot of Marseille and the French Tradition, and to obtain
copies of the Jean Noblet and Jean Dodal restorations.
Jean-Claude Flornoy has recreated, in the highest quality,
the 22 Majors of the Jean
Noblet and Jean
Dodal decks.
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