The Tarocchi del Mantegna:
The Ranks of Humanity

The lowest ten cards in the Tarocchi del Mantegna, numbered 1 through 10 and labeled with the letter E (or S in some printings) depict the "estates of man", or the ranks of human society, to use a more modern expression. When this series is compared with the lowest-ranked picture cards in the tarot deck, strong parallels appear, even though the two systems are far from identical. The presentation here discusses both the similarities and the differences.

Visconti-Sforza Triumph Cards c.1450	Tarocchi del Mantegna c. 1465	comments
		The lowest ranked card in both systems depicts a man in rags holding a stick. In the tarot he is il Mato, the Fool. In the Mantegna he is il Misero, the wretch or beggar. Both represent the lowest conceivable human condition, that of poverty and helplessness. In many tarot decks, the Fool as a madman is more clownish, an image more adapted to the game table in the local pub than is the somber, more philosophically instructive image of the misero. Interestingly, though, the Mantegna image includes a dog biting at the man's exposed leg, which became a standard motif for the Fool in Tarot de Marseille and similar decks.
		The similarity in pose and dress between the Fameio (Servant) in the Mantegna and the Page of Cups in the Visconti-Sforza tarot is striking. When comparing the Mantegna with the tarot, it is easy to look only at the trumps and neglect the court cards. But to do so is a mistake. The designer of the tarot probably saw the court figures (page or servant, knight, and king) in ordinary playing cards as an abbreviated summary of the ranks of feudal society. The lowest tarot trumps expand the concept, and the Mantegna makes the presentation fully systematic.
		The Bagatella or Magician of the tarot deck resembles the Artixan or Artisan of the Mantegna series. Although their titles imply that different subjects are being depicted (as was also the case with the Mato/Misero), the poses show that the images were connected in the minds of their designers. Either figure is an appropriate icon for the common man, one who lives by the skill of his hands. Such a life, although certainly "higher" than being a beggar or servant, was still not very respectable. This was also the class to which renaissance artists belonged, even those whose works now hang in museums. The astrologically minded might find another connection between the two figures, in the two signs ruled by the planet Mercury: glib Gemini and industrious Virgo.
		Next up the social ladder comes the Merchant, a figure with no analog in the tarot system, unless one sees the fine clothes of the Bagatella as an indication of a lucrative business.
		The next rank is that of gentleman, Zintilomo is the eccentric dialect of the Mantegna cards. Why does the tarot skip so many of the lower ranks of society that are represented in the Mantegna series? I think one factor at work was the desire to disrupt the familiar ranking of the court cards as little as possible. All the trumps, except the Fool, outrank the court cards in the game of tarot. The exception might be remembered for the special case of the Bagatella, who after all is a swindler and might "capture" a king with fast talk, but working in several other ranks below that of king would have been difficult from a game-design standpoint. The Mantegna designer, more concerned with philosophical logic than with gaming, was free to present a more comprehensive scheme.
		The tarot knights are depicted on horseback, a feature taken over from playing cards and helpful to aid recognition during play. The Mantegna knight is standing, with his page attending in the background.
		Above the knight ranks the Doxe (doge or duke). In renaissance Italy, the duke, although technically inferior to a king, had essentially the same power, ruling a city and its environs with complete autonomy. Once again, it would have been confusing to introduce such a figure into the ranks of playing cards; presumably one would have to be added to each suit, between knight and king.
		At the rank of king, the tarot designer launched into a fascinating innovation: the highest three ranks of human society are each represented, not by a single male figure, but by a male/female pair. (Ordinary playing cards had no queens at this time.) The Mantegna designer apparently did not like this idea at all, and purged the ranks of humanity of all female figures.
		In both series, the Emperor is shown almost in profile, with his orb and imperial eagle. The tarot designer also provided an Empress. From the middle ages into early modern times, Christian Europe maintained the institution of the Holy Roman Empire as a symbol of the political unity of Christendom. The Emperor was thus the secular analog of the Pope, in theory more powerful than any king.
		At the top of the human world is the Pope, as God's personal representative among humanity. Although the tarot designer had given the Pope a female counterpart (which would shock, baffle, and bewilder those encountering the cards for centuries to come), the Mantegna designer naturally eliminated her--but not before removing her book and keys and placing them back in more respectable hands.

In comparing the lowest ranking cards of the tarot with those of the Mantegna series, I think we can see that both designers were working with essentially the same concept, that of the ranks of human society. (Bear in mind that the cards for comparison were not chosen at random out of the two systems. They are the 10 lowest figures of the 50 Mantegna prints, and the 10 lowest figure cards in a tarot deck (the pip cards rank lower than the pages, but higher than the Fool). The Mantegna series probably represents a more conventional vision of the ranks of society in renaissance Italy, one appropriate for academic instruction. The tarot designer, it seems to me, showed no small creativity in adapting the paradigm into a card game, avoiding ranks that would have been confusing intrusions into the established court-card system, and instead introducing additional female figures among the highest ranks. Whatever the reasons for this last decision, it must certainly have added interest to the game and provoked some interesting conversations among players.