Identifying the figures on the d'Este Star Tarot
d’Este Star Tarot (~1473), Yale University Library
In the most recent installment of Tarot Mysteries (which you should go watch right now if you haven’t already!) I pointed out some of the celebrities that ended up on Renaissance tarot cards. Among them was the astronomer Toscanelli on the Charles VI Moon card, the astrologer Ptolemy on the d’Este Moon card and the Alexander/Diogenes scene on the d’Este Sun. While the Diogenes scene was a given, the identification of Toscanelli and Ptolemy both came from tips I found in an old thread on the Tarot History Forum. However, there was another card, the d’Este Star Tarot, I couldn’t find an identification for the figures depicted that I could really get behind anywhere.
An old engraving of Toscanelli compared with the Charles VI Moon Tarot, the babushka looking figure on the left remains a mystery.
A portrait and an engraving of Claudio Ptolemy compared with the d’Este Moon Tarot.
I was stuck on this problem for a few days at least. I felt like I couldn’t move on with this project if I didn’t have a good answer for the star card like I did for the moon and sun. I forget where, it was a while ago before I started the practice of keeping notes on everything, but I found a post that identified the figure on the left’s hat as ‘eastern’. This lead to be find a woodcut by Albrecht Durer from 1497 depicting a figure wearing that same headwear which reminds me a lot of a wizard hat. This figure was Masha’allah ibn Athari, a famous astrologer from the 9th century Abbasid court. This woodcut proved to me that there was interest in Renaissance Europe for this figure since they were still depicting him in art.
Masha’allah ibn Athari (740-815),
from Albrecht Durer, De Scientia Motus Orbis (1504), Wikimedia Commons
The other character however was a bit more tricky. First he had a beard which ruled out all period Italian astronomers and astrologers. I went through many portraits, some depicting entire courts and being clean shaven was definitely en vogue among the Italian nobility. There are prominent figures from a century after this such as Johannes Kepler that may have made sense to be on a star card but that doesn’t help with the situation much. I wrote in a joke about a time travelling John Dee but quickly deleted it, I had to figure this out at least to some degree of plausibility.
Portrait of an unknown man, often mistaken for Kepler (19th Century), Wikimedia Commons
Portrait of John Dee (1527-1608), Wikimedia Commons
Hipparchus (190-120 BC) from a 19th century engraving, Wikimedia Commons
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With the present tense and future ruled out, we can only look to the past. Ptolemy was from pretty far back (the 2nd century) what about someone even more ancient such as Hipparchus,? Hipparchus, like Ptolemy, was commonly depicted in art during this period. The beard and the head shape are in line with depictions of the ancient astronomer however the clothing was throwing me off. Perhaps the artist could be excused for anachronistic clothing. Or maybe, the figures are dressed in heavy robes because it’s supposed to be a scene in winter. The star is part of Christmas lore and The Magi are depicted on other renaissance star tarots, this scene could be an allusion or homage to that. Whatever is the case, the two men appear to be collaborating so it would make sense for it to be figures from different periods in history.
An engraving of Kepler teaching the Copernican system with a glum looking Hipparchus and Ptolemy watching on. Themathematicaltourist.wordpress
So in conclusion, the d’Este Star Tarot depicts two great astronomer/astrologers from different periods in time and parts of the world in collaboration with each other: Mashallah and Hipparchus. I doubt that I am the first person in history to make this assessment, however I could not readily find an answer to this question anywhere on the internet. I post this here now so that perhaps it may help out the next person who wishes to find a solution to this riddle.
