Tarocchi Di Leonardo
by Iassen Ghiuselev
 
I was immediately taken by this 22-card Major Arcana art deck deck when I opened it.  I had seen scans of some of the art before once or twice, but nothing prepared me for the delicate hint of pink that permeates the otherwise monochromatic sepiatone deck.  The details are equally delicate.  The Fool card in this deck is perhaps one of my all-time favorites, showing the Flying Machine that DaVinci designed in flight over a castle wall.  DaVinci's peers often considered him a fool when inventing such contraptions.  Yet today we look to his genius as the inspiration behind many modern conveniences.
 
And yes, before I go on, it is Leonardo DaVinci that the deck is named after.  I thought I was going to laugh my head off when someone actually thought it was named for Leonardo DiCaprio!  I don't think we've stooped that low yet in the tarot community!
 
Since this is a Major Arcana deck only, there are no suit or court cards.  The titles in the Major Arcana are fairly traditional and the figures in the cards are based on familiar art works by Leonardo DaVinci.  I found several of these cards looked like new designs but featured elements of DaVinci's work, rather than mimicking his painting style.  For example, we will use the Fool card again, which doesn't look like any of DaVinci's work, but does show off his Flying Machine in the scene displayed.  So it is with many cards, the High Priestess is the Mona Lisa, and so on.
 
The cards are larger than standard size which shows off the art really well, and the images are bordered in offwhite.  Titles appear at the top left in Italian, with Arabic numerals in the top right.  Corners are sharp.  The card stock is stiff and heavy textured paper so you can't really shuffle the deck, not that you'd want to shuffle an art deck anyway.  Handling is not too difficult since there are only 22 cards.  The back design is reversible heads of some classical warrior type person.
 
The little booklet which comes with the deck is also in Italian and I couldn't make anything out of it.  There are no divinatory meanings in the booklet, no spreads, no instructions.  It seems to be mainly a discourse on how DaVinci's work came to inspire Ghiuselev to create this deck.
 
Overall, I have to recommend this out of print deck as an art collectible.  Anyone who likes the classical renaissance style of artwork will love this deck, whether they are familiar with DaVinci's work or not.  And of course everyone has seen the Mona Lisa, so a minimal amount of familiarity is guaranteed!  The cards are not intuitive enough to be used for divination except by the most experienced reders.  However, I'd love to frame a few of them and hang them on my wall!
 
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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace
 
Tarocchi Di Leonardo by Iassen Ghiuselev, 1992
published by LoScarabeo, Torino, Italy