![]() OHO, good fortune is upon me! A DAL NEGRO I TAROCCHINI DI MITELLI, AT LAST! While attending the annual international Tarot convention, the 2014 Readers Studio in NYC last week, I found myself staring at that deck I have been seeking. That deck! THE DECK! Enthusiasts will know what I mean, and how that feels, a rather galvanic physical and mental sensation which tells you that you WILL NOW change anything in your life to strike in the present opportunity. Maybe. So there it was, a Dal Negro I Tarocchini di Mitelli, the wonderful colored version which I have wanted since last fall, when I first began seeing the earliest evolutions of the Tarot Trumps, which have not always had the same form down through time. My own personal interest in Tarot history tends toward the oldest decks, the proto-Tarots, the early forms which changed as Tarot moved and adapted quickly in a very short time frame during the late 1300-mid-1600s. The Tarot Catelin Geoffrey, the Ercole d'Este~ those decks are in museums and usually partial or unavailable even as viewable images. Further, I was not even certain what a Tarocchini might be~ would it be the same thing as a Tarocchino? Or is Tarocchini the plural of Tarocchino? Fortunately for my readers, I am not embarrassed to be a student. Students, by definition, do not know; they are learning. I am a student of Tarot. There is no question I will not ask in pursuit of an answer. I consider being a student a sacred undertaking, one to be respected and honored. I engage my lack of knowledge with enthusiasm and pleasure. Also, I am fortunate enough to know several dozen extremely educated and informed Tarot historians and collectors who keep me up to date, and who correct me when I am wrong, fairly frequently! So, in service of my study and my love of the history, I needed to get my hands on one of these decks. Why? Well, because the cards are in color. Most Tarocchini di Mitelli are in beige or buff with dark outlines. The ever-reliable Ozvaldo Menegazzi of Il Meneghello has one out there, quite beautiful, which I hope to own at some point. But I wanted color, for comparisons. And there it was, at the Tarot Garden table inside the conference, with a sweet price tag, and I bought it from the estimable Dan Pelletier and Jeannette Roth, proprietors. I checked to determine that all the cards were there, and began to learn a bit about the difference between a Tarocchino and a Tarot. Fascinating! Now you look! What do you see here? I am showing you images which predate some of the Trumps we see most frequently in both the English School's illustrated minors, and in the Tarot de Marseille tradition. Dal Negro I Tarocchini di Mitelli, by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, circa 1660-1665.
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