The Visconti-Sforza tarot is one of the oldest groups of 15th-century Italian decks that survive at least in part today. The three best-known decks are named after their former owners or present homes: the Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo, the Cary-Yale (also called the Visconti di Modrone pack) and the Brera-Brambilla. The cards were commissioned by Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, and later by his successor Francesco Sforza. Their production has long been attributed to the Milanese court painter Bonifacio Bembo, although Francesco Zavattari has more recently been proposed as well. The decks are decorated with gold and silver leaf, and a full deck contained 22 trump cards plus 56 standard suit cards. When they were commissioned, they were meant to be luxurious playing cards for the game then called trionfi (triumphs, that is, trumps). Many hand-painted decks of the period have not survived, but the Visconti-Sforza cards, true works of art, are preserved in museums and in the hands of devoted collectors. The cards portray the life of the Milanese nobility of the time and include portraits of members of the Visconti and Sforza families, yet their imagery set the standard for later tarot decks. According to the librarian Gertrude Moakley, Petrarch's poem Triumphs was a major influence on the art of these cards.
Today there is no single Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, but a group of about 15 decks in various states of preservation. None has survived complete. The three best-preserved are the Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo, the Cary-Yale and the Brera-Brambilla.
- Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo (c. 1451): the classic Visconti-Sforza deck. It now contains 74 cards: 20 trumps, 15 court cards and 39 pip cards. The missing cards are The Devil, The Tower, the Three of Swords and the Knight of Coins, which are reconstructed in some modern replicas. The cards are divided among several collections and libraries around the world.
- Cary-Yale (between 1442 and 1447): kept in the Yale University Library, a gift of the Cary family. Also known as the Visconti di Modrone deck, it survives in 67 cards. Some scholars believe it is the oldest of the decks, commissioned by Filippo Maria Visconti himself.
- Brera-Brambilla (1463): named after Giovanni Brambilla, a former owner, and now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. It was probably painted by Bonifacio Bembo for Francesco Sforza. Of its 48 surviving cards, only two are trumps.
