Mantegna Tarocchi

The name appears to be a mistaken confusion by later writers with the contemporary card-game of Tarocco, which includes many extra picture-cards.

Some sets bound up in book form at early dates survive (e.g. BNF, Paris, and Pavia), and all examples are printed on single sheets of thin paper.

Due to the similarities with the style of the Salone dei Mesi of Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara, there is a growing consensus the engravings were made by artists working with Francesco del Cossa, at the Estensi Court [3] They remain important examples of Italian engraving, and are mostly owned by museums as part of their collections of old master prints.

Some of the images are copied in a manuscript dated 1467, which is believed to give a terminus ante quem for the E-series.

[2] The titles of some cards are written in a Ferraran or Venetian dialect — “Doxe” for Doge or Duke, and “Artixan” for artisan.