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Master of the E-Series Tarocchi

Apollo, plate 20 from Apollo and the Muses

c. 1465
Engraving on paper
17.7 × 10 cm (7 × 3.9 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

These engravings, part of a “deck” of 50 images that resemble playing cards, were probably created in Ferrara. The enigmatic series is organized into five thematic groups: Conditions of Man, Apollo and the Muses, Arts and Sciences, Geniuses and Virtues, and Firmaments of the Universe . Not intended as tarot or playing cards, these tarocchi were most likely used as a didactic iconographical source or model book. Apollo, though crowned and seated on a celestial sphere, is shown in an unusual manner, alongside swans and what could be an ornamented mirror.

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