id: 106400 accession number: 1924.432.9 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1924.432.9 updated: 2023-03-04 09:29:28.437000 The Emperor (from the Tarocchi, series E: Conditions of Man, #9), before 1467. Master of the E-Series Tarocchi (Italian, 15th century). Engraving hand-colored with gold; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1924.432.9 title: The Emperor (from the Tarocchi, series E: Conditions of Man, #9) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: before 1467 creation date earliest: 1457 creation date latest: 1467 current location: creditline: Dudley P. Allen Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, Ferrara, 15th century technique: engraving hand-colored with gold department: Prints collection: PR - Engraving type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Hind E.I.9a --- CREATORS * Master of the E-Series Tarocchi (Italian, 15th century) - artist --- measurements: state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Lettered below the image of Imperator (The Emperor): [·E·] / ·EMPEROR·VIIII / [·9·] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Italian and German Prints of the 15th Century opening date: 1933-11-29T05:00:00 Italian and German Prints of the 15th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29, 1933-January 3, 1934). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA 1996: Sets and Series: Five Centuries of Master Prints, February 20-May 5, 1996, no cat. --- PROVENANCE Ex. colls: Unidentified Collector's mark (Lugt suppl. 2822b); Stroganoff date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: This engraving is part of the Tarocchi group marked with the letter “E,” and named Conditions of Man. This series outlines the social and hierarchical order of ten characters (Beggar, Servant, Artisan, Merchant, Gentleman, Knight, Doge King, Emperor, and Pope), starting from the lower grade and ending with the most important one.

Here, Imperator (The Emperor) is shown as a full-length crowned male figure, turned to the left. The ruler is seated crossed-legged on his throne. He holds a globe in his right hand, while an eagle rests at his feet. wall description: While differing greatly from traditional Tarocchi or tarot cards, this set earned its misleading name because of a few, unimportant similarities. Never a game, scholars generally agree that this set was an educational tool, used to visually describe a fifteenth-century philosophical model of the universe. It was believed that the universe was a ladder-like structure that began with the beggar and rose through the ranks of man, the muses, the liberal arts, the virtues, and the planets, until it finally reached the pinnacle, the dwelling place of God. Reflecting this order, these fifty engravings were divided into five groups of ten: the Conditions of Man; Apollo and the Muses; the Liberal Arts (with three added disciplines—Poetry, Philosophy, and Theology); the Virtues (with three personifications of cosmic principles called "genii"); and the Firmaments of the Universe. Designed, engraved, and hand-colored in gold by anonymous artists and craftsmen, the series exists in two versions. The museum's set, known as the "E" series (named for the letter in the lower left corner of the prints in the first group of ten), is believed to be the original, while the "S" series (the letter "S" was substituted for the "E") is considered to be an inferior copy, made within a decade of the first. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.432.9/1924.432.9_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.432.9/1924.432.9_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.432.9/1924.432.9_full.tif