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Tarot didn’t start with mystics, witches, or crystal balls. It started with rich people showing off.
Before tarot became a tool for guidance or self-reflection, it was a game for the upper classes. The Visconti-Sforza Tarot is the oldest surviving tarot deck we have, and it didn’t come out of a sacred vision or divine download. It came out of 15th century Milan, full of political power plays, family alliances, and a deep love for gold leaf. If you’ve ever wondered about the origin of tarot cards, this is where the story begins.
This is the first post in my series Decks That Changed Tarot, where I’m looking at five monumental decks from history that shaped tarot as we know it. Each one changed the game in some fundamental way, whether by introducing new symbolism, reshaping the structure, or becoming the standard for how we see the cards today.
We’re starting at the root. The Visconti-Sforza didn’t just influence the decks that came later. It gave us the whole structure: 78 cards, 22 trumps, 4 suits. It set the standard for what would become one of the most enduring types of tarot decks in the world. So let’s talk about who made it, who used it, and why it still matters.
Power, Prestige, and the Origin of Tarot Cards
The Families Behind the First Tarot Deck
The Visconti-Sforza Tarot wasn’t born in a vacuum. It came out of 15th century Milan, a city-state run by dynasties who loved art, allegory, and displays of power. Filippo Maria Visconti, the last duke of the Visconti line, was a major patron of the arts. His daughter, Bianca Maria Visconti, married the mercenary turned noble Francesco Sforza, who took over the Duchy. Together, they ushered in a new political alliance and a new visual language of power.
To celebrate their union and solidify their prestige, they commissioned hand-painted decks known as Trionfi, meaning “triumphs.” These cards weren’t yet called tarot. That term evolved later into tarocchi as the game spread. The cards were likely used for playing, yes, but also as luxury objects. Think wedding gifts, not mystical tools. Many historians consider this deck the origin of tarot cards as we know them.
The Artists Who Brought It to Life
Bonifacio Bembo is the name most often linked with the Visconti-Sforza deck. A court painter with ties to both the Visconti and Sforza families, he worked in a style that blends late Gothic detail with early Renaissance realism. He’s thought to have painted many of the surviving cards, possibly with the help of other artists.
Some cards seem to depict actual members of the family. The Queen of Swords might be Bianca Maria herself. The King of Cups bears a striking resemblance to Francesco. These weren’t generic archetypes. They were personal, political, and full of meaning for the people who commissioned them.
What Was in the First Tarot Deck?
Structure and Variations
The most complete version we have, known as the Pierpont Morgan Bergamo deck, had 78 cards: 22 trumps, 56 suit cards across Cups, Coins, Swords, and Batons. Each suit had a Page, Knight, Queen, and King. But there are variations. The Cary Yale deck, for example, has six court cards per suit, including female knights and pages, and adds three theological virtues as trumps: Faith, Hope, and Charity.
These additions suggest the deck may have been made for a woman, possibly Bianca Maria herself. It also gives us a clue into how flexible the tarot format was before it was standardised. Looking at the earliest tarocchi decks helps us understand how the structure of tarot cards developed into the familiar 78-card system found in most types of tarot decks today. This foundational shape would later influence every other tarot system in the long history of tarot.
Style and Detail
These cards were not small. They were larger than modern playing cards and even bigger than most modern tarot cards, which are already oversized compared to standard decks. Visconti-Sforza cards were more like miniature paintings, designed to be admired as much as handled. The trumps feature gold leaf, intricate costumes, and lavish backgrounds. Every detail reflected the wealth and refinement of the families who owned them. There are heraldic symbols, Latin mottos, and a level of craftsmanship that makes modern mass-market decks look like fast food.
The pip cards aren’t illustrated the way modern decks are. No scenic minors. Just ornate arrangements of symbols. Cups surrounded by vines. Swords interwoven with floral patterns. They weren’t meant to be interpreted. They were meant to be admired.
Symbolism Without the Mysticism
Allegory, Not Esoterica
It’s tempting to look at these cards and project esoteric meanings onto them. But the people who made and used this deck weren’t occultists. They were nobles commissioning a luxury item.
The Popess wasn’t a secret goddess figure. She might have been inspired by Pope Joan or simply served as a personification of Faith. The Hanged Man, labelled as the Traitor, reflects the punishment of betrayers. Possibly a warning, not a riddle. Death is present, but so is Justice. Fortune turns her wheel. The trumps tell a story of morality, status, and fate. A kind of Renaissance soap opera, allegory style.
Missing Pieces and Real Faces
Not all the cards have survived. The Devil and the Tower, for example, are missing from the best-preserved sets. But most historians agree they were probably there. Later decks based on this one included them, and the sequence of trumps wouldn’t make sense without them.
Some cards are so personalised they may have doubled as portraits. These weren’t just symbols. They were people. Painted by people. For people.
How the Visconti-Sforza Tarot Shaped the History of Tarot
Giving Tarot Its Shape
This is the part that changed everything. The structure. 22 trumps. 4 suits. 14 cards per suit. Once this format appeared, it stuck. Later decks like the Marseille and Rider Waite Smith followed the same layout. Even when the meanings changed, the structure didn’t.
The Visconti-Sforza didn’t try to create a spiritual tool. But it gave future mystics, readers, and artists a foundation to build on. It laid the groundwork for the history of tarot as a symbolic system.
Tarot as System, Not Just Symbol
When occultists in the 18th and 19th centuries started assigning spiritual meanings to tarot, they needed something to attach those meanings to. This deck gave them that scaffolding. It may not have meant anything mystical at the time, but it made mysticism possible.
The Oldest Tarot Deck in the Modern World
Modern Versions and Restorations
The original cards are scattered across collections. The Morgan Library in New York. The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. Others. No full deck survives, but high-quality facsimiles exist. US Games published a version with recreated missing cards, painted in Bembo’s style.
Some readers use these reproductions in practice, but they’re not for everyone. The non-scenic pips make intuitive readings harder unless you’re familiar with numerology or historical styles. Mostly, these decks live on as collector’s items, study tools, and sources of artistic inspiration. For tarot lovers interested in the oldest tarot deck, this reproduction is the closest thing to holding history.
Holding History in My Hands
I’ve got one of these reproductions myself. It’s beautiful to look at, and I love being able to trace the lineage of the tool I use every day all the way back to something this ornate and intentional. There’s something grounding about holding a piece of tarot’s origin story in your hands. You feel the weight of history in it.
But I’ll be honest. As much as I admire it, it doesn’t speak to me in the same way other decks do. Even other historic decks in this series feel more alive when I read with them. This one feels like a monument. Important, awe-inspiring, but a bit distant.
Even so, this deck certainly feels alive. Not in a magical sense, but in a very human one. It’s a window into the lives of the people who made it. A record of the faces, values, and aesthetics that shaped tarot before it was ever spiritual.
Conclusion: Why the First Tarot Deck Still Matters
The Visconti-Sforza Tarot didn’t start a mystical movement. It started a format. It was handmade, expensive, deeply personal, and politically loaded. It wasn’t trying to reveal your future. It was revealing the present. What power looked like. Who mattered. How they wanted to be remembered.
And somehow, despite all that, it became the bones of a system that readers like me now use to help people make sense of their lives. The magic came later. But the cards began here.
Next in the series, we’ll look at the Tarot de Marseille, a deck that cemented the structure and iconography of tarot for centuries. For now, let this one remind you. Even tarot had to start somewhere.
