Tarot’s Origins Return from Fortune-Telling to Renaissance Art

Tarot, now associated with divination, began as an illustrated court game in 15th-century Italy—a history highlighted by a new art-historical presentation. The Visconti-Sforza cards attributed to the circle of Bonifacio Bembo combine costly pigments, gold leaf and dynastic symbols on intimate surfaces. This perspective reveals that the border between everyday play and high art was constructed only later.