Thursday 17 September 2020

Trumps of the Bourgeois Tarot

The subjects of the trumps of Italian suited tarots have been the subject of much attention. The subjects on the french-suited counterparts have not been so well-studied. Granted, there is much diversity in French-suited tarots as a whole. But one particular variety, the  Bourgeois Tarot displays remarkable stability in the subject of the trump-cards.

 I shall thus attempt a thorough description of the trump cards. I have used three decks in my research:
1: A deck published by Grimauld of France, purchased c. 2011 ( previously featured Here)
2: A deck published by "Corfalu Kim'play", Purchased c. 2012 ( Previosuy featured Here)
3: A deck published by Modanio,

Some attempts have been made to describe the trump-cards [ https://sites.google.com/site/tacticclub/Home/introduction/l-histoire-du-tarot ( in French) and http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards28.htm], but none of them have been extremely detailed in their descriptions. I therefore attempt to provide such a description.


No
Description of scene
Polett’s titles
Wikipedia’s titles
1
Jester and lady/ Man in frock coat talks to Perrot
Individual Foolishness
Folly, individual.
2
Girls play at skipping, dolls, etc, / Boys play at soldiers
Childhood
Childhood
3
Three women promenading in street/ Men and women loiter in park
Adolescence
Youth
4
Seated women with child on lap, girl sitting in door playing flute/Interior scene,  Two men  seated in table talking
Mature age
Maturity
5
Interior scene. Two seated women, one sewing other knitting while girl looks on. / Bearded man talks to girl, two boys playing at soldiers standing by
Elderly age
Old age
6
Reapers in field/ Interior scene, Two women seated at table drinking tea.
Morning
Morning
7
Workingmen and women resting in a field/ Interior scene, seated woman holds letter to seated man
Midday
Afternoon
8
Family scene; seated man and women with girl on knee, another girl looks on / Man accompanied by lady pianist sings to an audience
Evening
Evening
9
Man standing with one leg on rock, dog looks on/ Man enters doorway, looks furtively at another smoking, but looking other way
Nighttime
Night
10
Men breaking stones/ Shepherd sitting in field with goats
Earth and Air
Earth/air
11
Man rows woman on lake / men and women at a picnic
Water and fire
Water/ fire
12
Country dance/ Ballroom dance
Dancing
Dance
13
Rural women buying cloth at a draper’s / Urban men and women in a room (department store?)
Shopping
Shopping
14
Hunting party with dogs/ Men fishing with nets on boat, and angling
Open air
Open air
15
Man painting while girl looks on/Man take photograph of seated woman
Art
Visual arts
16
Sheep-shearing scene/  gardener waters plant while well-dressed family look on
Spring
Spring
17
Horse-racing scene / Women winnowing?
Summer
Summer
18
Market scene / Men threshing grain
Autumn
Autumn
19
Interior scene, Women spinning, man reading / Skaters
Winter
Winter
20
Men play at lawn bowling/ Men play at cards
Games
The game
21
Ballroom dance / Military parade, with jester looking on.
Collective foolishness
Folly, collective


1 comment:

  1. Hello, I’ve been fascinated by non Anglo cards and French trumps for a while. Your blog is such a wealth of information! It’s is all in French, but I found an interesting analysis of Tarot Nouveau trumps. He argues that the images are commentary on industrializing France, with sympathy toward the rural side. He also says there are nods to the Marseilles tarot, as well.
    https://imagesdutravail.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=1707#tocto1n5

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