Author: Giordano Berti and Rodrigo Tebani
Artist: Iassen Ghiuselev and Atanas Atanassov
Cards Set
Publisher: Llewellyn (Lo Scarabeo)
Publication date: August 2003
ISBN: 0738704091
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The Leonardo da Vinci Tarot is a standard Tarot deck illustrated after the style of Leonardo da Vinci. The Major Arcana was created by Iassen Ghiuselev in the early 1990s. The deck was completed ten years later when Atanas Atanassov created the Minor Arcana. Although one can tell that different artists did the two sections of the deck, both did such a good job of the "da Vinci" feel that it is not as noticeable as one might expect. The artwork is excellent and quite evocative of Leonardo da Vinci. Art lovers will want to consider this deck for the artwork alone.
If this deck has a fault, it is lack of symbolism. The cards, although lovely, do not have the depth of symbolism common to many modern decks. There is certainly more symbolism than in decks with just pips for the Minor Arcana, but I wish more symbols could have been worked into the cards. Unfortunately, the artists really could not do so and maintain the da Vinci feel. Despite this minor fault, the deck is fairly easy to read with if the reader is familiar with the standard Tarot. A beginner would have problems as the included multi-lingual booklet only provides sketchy information. The spread provided is interesting, unusual, and seems fitting for a deck inspired by Leonardo da Vinci: the final card of the reading is selected by numerological methods.
While the lack of symbol depth means the Leonardo da Vinci Tarot will never be one of my favorite reading decks, the elegant artwork endears it to me. This deck is certainly worthy of a look when you are in the market for a new deck. If you are a fan of Leonardo da Vinci, it's probably a must have for its excellent da Vinci style artwork.
Reviewed by Randall
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