As Tarot’s popularity spread in the 15th and 16th centuries, the game’s epicenter moved from the courts of Northern Italy into France and Switzerland. Along this journey, a new technological ally emerged: woodblock printing. This method allowed decks to be reproduced faster and more consistently than hand-painted cards, making Tarot more accessible beyond noble households.
In France, particularly in the city of Marseille, the style became standardized: bold black outlines, a restrained palette of reds, blues, yellows, and greens, and instantly recognizable figures. These “archetypal faces” — from the serene High Priestess to the playful Fool — created what we now call the Tarot de Marseille.
The Marseille style was more than just aesthetic; it became the visual DNA of Tarot. Later artists — from occultists to surrealists — would copy, remix, or even rebel against these forms, but the underlying geometry, posture, and symbolism remained deeply influential.
Early Marseille makers drew inspiration from Italian hand-painted decks like the Visconti-Sforza but stripped the imagery down to essentials suited for carving. Workshops in Lyon, Paris, and Marseille developed stencils that could be reused for hundreds of impressions, keeping costs low while preserving crisp iconography. The result was a deck that balanced durability with the ability to communicate story at a glance.
Cardmakers such as Jean Noblet, Jean Dodal, and Nicolas Conver refined the pattern across the 17th and 18th centuries. They tweaked borders, banner scrolls, and tiny symbolic details — a bent wand here, a floral motif there — but the core structure of the 22 trumps and 56 suit cards stayed remarkably consistent. Surviving copies show how artisans added their signatures while honoring the template readers had come to trust.
As trade routes carried these decks across Europe and into the New World, the Marseille look became synonymous with “classic” Tarot. Occult revivalists in the 19th century treated it as a touchstone, and modern publishers still reissue facsimiles for students eager to work with historical symbolism. Even today, the bold faces and primary hues of Marseille cards remind us that Tarot’s roots lie in communal workshops, shared patterns, and the art of broadcasting myth through simple, repeatable forms.