@celestial__shadows: the full story i didn't have time to tell you... the colleoni deck was commissioned in 1451 by francesco sforza, duke of milan. painted in gold leaf and crushed lapis lazuli by two artists working in the sforza court. you can still see the family's three interlocking rings on the cards. 74 of the original 78 survive. the devil, the tower, and two suit cards are lost forever. by the late 1800s, the deck had passed through several hands and landed with count alessandro colleoni. he was obsessive about it, rarely let anyone see it. then his friend, count baglioni, came to visit. baglioni convinced him to trade 26 cards for a portrait of a colleoni ancestor that was hanging in baglioni's castle. colleoni thought he was getting something of his own back but he wasn't. he spent years trying to buy the cards back after greatly regretting this, but baglioni refused every time. baglioni died in 1900 and left his cards to the accademia carrara in bergamo. colleoni never got them back. then in 1911, the colleoni heirs sold their remaining cards to j.p. morgan through a parisian art dealer who specialised in selling european treasures to wealthy americans. 35 cards went to new york. 28 stayed in bergamo. 13 remained with the colleoni family. for 115 years, apart. this exhibition brought all 74 back together for the first time. and i happened to be there.

Katie | Astrology + Tarot

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Wednesday 27 May 2026 13:49:52 GMT