Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci Tarot
Iassen Ghiuselev, Atanas Atanassov (Lo Scarabeo, 2003)

Review
Some decks make an immediate impact, though we all know that's not always a good thing. Some decks, however, are made rewarding by study over time.

Every card here is based on Leonardo's art- whether his delicate, and sometimes dense pencil sketches, or else his famous oils. Inevitably, there's been some additions, alterations and cropping (that Seven of Cups is part of the Adoration of the Magi) but it's all done sensitively and cleverly.

Having said that, there's some slightly dubious card choices. Leda And The Swan as the Two of Cups? Er, really? Granted, they look reasonably chummy in the image, and I'll admit that Leonardo didn't draw a lot of couples, but that's not the most consensual myth they could have used!

Then again, the Pentacles are surprisingly good. Vitruvian Man is the Ace, but on each card the Pentacles are embossed with a slightly different, mathematically satisfying geometric design. It's a clever, subtle bridge between Leonardo's skills as an artist and as a mathematician.

In fact, in some cases the deck is a little too subtle. Understandably unwilling to mess too much with Leonardo's original palette, and presumably not wanting the linework to be too overwhelmed by colour, the cards after a while feel a little subdued. But this is just a minor gripe compared to the intelligence and diligence that's been put into this deck.