The thesis deals with an iconographic and comparative analysis of two key Renaissance tarot card decks: the Visconti-Sforza deck (around 1450) and the Sola Busca deck (around 1491). The aim of the thesis is to explore how the intellectual world of the 15th century is reflected in these artifacts, particularly the influence of humanism, Neoplatonism, and Hermetic philosophy. The central part of the thesis consists of a detailed analysis of the 22 Major Arcana cards of the Visconti-Sforza deck, which are interpreted as an anthropocentric cosmographic system that recreates the Platonic myth of the soul’s journey from innocence to reunification with the divine intellect.
The comparative analysis reveals significant differences in thematic approach: the iconography of the Visconti-Sforza deck is based on established moral allegories and the social order of its time, whereas the Sola Busca deck introduces individualized historical figures, mostly from Roman antiquity, and leans more strongly toward Hermetic and alchemical motifs. In both decks, the image of the human being plays a central role—as an active participant in their own salvation and as a mediator between the material and spiritual worlds. In the thesis, the Sola Busca tarot is used as an illustrative example of the heterogeneity of Renaissance thought, which, through obscure symbols and historical concretization, anticipates new directions in the humanistic exploration of humanity’s place in the cosmos.
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