Click
Here to View the Entwined Lovers
Charm Click Here to View
the Great Rite (Kneeling Lovers) Pendant
The Lovers in Italian Tarot Symbolism: In the original Italian tarot tradition,
the card is always called simply "Love" (never "The Lovers"),
and the picture almost always shows a couple with Cupid above them. In the
Cary-Yale Visconti card (possibly the oldest surving tarot), the scene seems
to show a royal wedding. Some historians have speculated that this card
commemorates the marriage of Duke Filippo to Maria of Savoy, based on heraldic
designs on the canopy. In Mitelli's deck, the idea is reduced to a bare
minimum: the couple is omitted and Cupid is alone on the card! In the Gringonneur
card, several couples are shown, but the idea is clearly the same. Thus,
in the Italian tradition, this card is a simple allegory, one of
the most familiar and easily interpreted throughout western culture.
