The Art of
Nancy Garbarini
Featured Work
The Emporer
Original Illuminated Tarot Card
3.5 x 7"
Glair and 23k Gold Leaf on Pasteboard.
Unframed
Original Tarot card handmade using historical techniques and materials. The card was handcrafted by making pasteboard from multiple layers of acid-free paper, finished with a paper wrapper, much like the inspiration piece. The design was embellished with 23k genuine gold leaf, the burnished to a high shine and tooled to create the background pattern. Finally, the figures were painted using glair, a paint made from egg whites and historical pigments.
This card is a study based on the Emporer card from the Rothschild deck created in 15th Century Florence, Italy.
The game of Tarocchi, or Tarot, is thought to have originated in the 15th Century, possibly in Italy. During the Italian Renaissance, tarot was a card game hundreds of years before being widely used for divination. Wealthy patrons would have commissioned hand painted decks with elaborate painting and gilding on each of the 78 unique cards. There are only a precious few of these decks still in existence.
In modern divination, The Emporer, card number IV, is part of the Major Arcana. The card meaning relates to stability, authority, power, law and order, and leadership.
About
Art has always been a conversation across centuries.
Da Vinci's Cousin is my exploration of that conversation—a journey into the techniques, materials, and creative practices of medieval and Renaissance artists, reimagined through a contemporary lens.
I am a self-taught artist originally from Southern California, now based in Northwest Arkansas. My work focuses on historical and fantasy themes, with a particular fascination for manuscript illumination, miniature painting, oil painting, gilding, and the rich traditions of pre-modern art. Through careful study and hands-on experimentation, I seek to understand not only how these works were created, but why they continue to captivate us today.
A major part of this journey is my ongoing study of Il Libro dell'Arte by Cennino Cennini, one of the most important surviving manuals of Renaissance artistic practice. I am working through each of Cennini's more than 200 micro-lessons, creating a finished artwork inspired by every technique and documenting the process on YouTube. This long-term project has become both an artistic apprenticeship and a historical investigation.
One of the central bodies of work emerging from this study is my upcoming Tarot project. Drawing inspiration from medieval symbolism, Renaissance craftsmanship, and the storytelling power of fantasy art, these pieces combine historical techniques with original interpretation. Each card serves as both an artwork and a step along the path of rediscovering traditional methods.
Whether you are an art collector, a fellow artist, a student of history, or simply someone who finds beauty in the craftsmanship of the past, I hope you will find something here that inspires you. My goal is not to recreate history exactly as it was, but to learn from it, engage with it, and carry its lessons forward into new work.
Thank you for joining me on this adventure through pigments, parchment, gold leaf, and imagination.
The masters left us their knowledge. The rest is practice.
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