Mona Lisa
Collaboration featuring renaissance and classical artwork across full tarot.
by Mark McElroy, Paolo Martinello · 2008
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The record
The Mona Lisa Tarot is a collaboration between innovative deck author, Mark McElroy (Tarot of the Elves, Lo Scarabeo Tarot) and artist, Paolo Martinello, creator of the Universal Fantasy Tarot. The deck is 78 cards on the usual Lo Scarabeo good card-stock, with non-reversible backs in a glossy box. The borders are minimal, and the titles pushed to the far edges of the card, offering an attractive frame, yet allowing the artwork maximal space. The deck seems to be inspired from the imagery within the Mona Lisa Painting (1503-1506), and circumstances surrounding its creation, as well the life and imagination of Leonardo (1452-1519), life and time of his famous subject, Lisa del Giocondo, (1479 1542, or c. 1551), scenes from Florence, and related historical events, such as (possibly) the 1527 sack of Rome, and 1529 siege of Florence, and the 1503 poisoning of Pope Alexander VI. The Mona Lisa figure appears often swirled in silk, perhaps to remind us that Lisa del Giocondo was the wife of a silk merchant. The spectacular landscape of the portrait is also much explored. An accompanying book (not yet published) is expected to accompany the deck, and will hopefully reveal much of the hi
The cards
