Author: Yve
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Old Man
In this final series of cards, I must deviate from the Etteilla meanings. The Bolognese deck shows some intriguing alternatives to the Marseille trump sequence, and as Etteilla mutated the trumps in his own direction,1 the two are almost incompatible. Ah, the fun of starting a deck with minimal planning… So, I made my own…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Wheel of Fortune
Up next, Arlecchino will present for us mortals a series of allegories of the forces which challenge us. First, please consider the vicissitudes of fate and fortune! The one who sits atop the gets to wear the regal costume, for a time. Elsewhere, one can only cling on for dear life. In the Bolognese deck,…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Virtues
Evening falls and the Chariot pulls up to a moss-covered hall. Hop down from your seat, look back up and your driver has disappeared – how strange! Nothing to do but pass through the monumental blackened wood door, behind which lights flicker. Entering the hall, you see a gathering of charming virtuous ladies. That is,…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Chariot
Mercurial! Martial! Such is the dual nature of this Harlequin, with his winged helmet and sword. His war chariot is drawn by two horses, opposed at the head and entangled in the center. Streams of red punctuate the air, litter the ground, and bind the horses together. One sun emits circles of light, the other…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Popes
The two popes are removed from the Etteilla trumps (replaced with the Significators). Likewise, they do not appear in the modern Bolognese cards, transformed along with the Emperor and Empress into a quartet of Moors. But they were there once! And I am a completionist. So here, I made one of each of their costumes…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Significators
Sorry Etteilla, you are being replaced. One of the Etteilla tradition’s many eccentricities is the inclusion of a male and a female significator within the trumps. These replaced the Tarot de Marseille’s Pope and Female Pope, respectively. And, if you haven’t guessed, they’re both titled ETTEILLA. There are a number of compositions for these ETTEILLAs.1…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Magician
The Magician is perhaps the trump where a Harlequin is most at home. He gets free rein to bedevil, bewilder, and swindle. He is surrounded by four pestering imps lovely children and dizzying streaks of red. Maybe they are in league – the Magician’s plants in the audience. Or not. Will he succeed in tricking…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: Love
Spring is in the air, the time when rosy-cheeked young lovers meet at the Fountain of the Malignant Harlequin Baby to exchange propositions. If all goes well, they will run off together to whack each other with their matching Batons. This drawing took me the longest of any of the cards so far. Probably because…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Fool
In a deck of maniacal harlequins, who is wild enough to be called the Fool? This Fool wears motley of many shapes. His costume incorporates the signature patterns of the four courts1, including moons, leaves, and classic diamonds. He’s also covered in feathers and leaves, which he has picked up from his wanderings through wood…
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Tarocchino Arlecchino: The Empress
. . . the Elle-woman is young and of a fair and attractive countenance, but behind she is hollow like a dough-trough.