Tarot

This major new volume explores the origins of Tarot in Renaissance Italy and its contemporary relevance as an enduring source of inspiration for modern artists.

An illustrated Introduction plus six other richly-illustrated essays explore the long, rich history of Tarot, the origins of the cards, their iconography, the idea of personal engagement in fortune and divination, as well as the highly personal aspects in much of the imagery. A main plates section features twenty spreads of tarot cards, some comparing the same character or virtue cards across each of three Renaissance decks, or in some spreads comparing Renaissance and Modern Tarot imagery.

Through its presentation of valuable new information and context on how Tarot has developed, evolved, and been reimagined by artists, mystics, and writers over the centuries, from its origins as a fifteenth-century card game in Renaissance Italy to its profound transformations into tools for divination, artistic creation, and storytelling, this new volume fills a very real - and timely - gap in the currently available published material on the history and artistic development of Tarot, its symbolism, and its source of inspiration for contemporary artists.