From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
Seven of Cups
Meanings
Spoiled for choice. Faced with many attractive options, how can you choose? Do not rush to grab at one though, for some may be mere illusion. Take your time and assess each one well before deciding.
Reversed (?)
Decision, then action. Now you have chosen the goal you want, take the steps to achieve it. It is time to stop daydreaming and act.
Description
A gentle, kindly woman in Arabic-style robe and turban offers a sheet on which seven cups appear. Each one is filled with a mysterious gift: a face, a hooded figure, a snake, a castle, jewels, a wreath and a dragon. In the distant landscape, we can see a fine castle and a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds.
The face I have used is that of Saskia van Uylenburgh, Rembrandt's wife and his favorite model before her untimely death at the age of twenty-nine.
Artwork
- Cup: MEMLING, Hans, St John and Veronica Diptych, c.1483, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
- Sky: WOUWERMAN, Philips, Landscape with Peasants by a Cottage, 1651-53, private collection.
- Face: RIJN, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van, Portrait of Saskia with a Flower, 1641, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.
- Landscape, body: MEMLING, Hans, St John and Veronica Diptych, c.1483, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
- Blue cape bottom: RUBENS, Pieter Pauwel, Annunciation, c.1628, Rubens House, Antwerp.
- Dragon: RAFFAELLO, Sanzio, St Michael and the Dragon, c.1505, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
- Wreath leaves: RUBENS, Pieter Pauwel, The Triumph of Truth, 1622-25, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
- Jewels, halo: EYCK, Jan van, The Ghent Altarpiece: Virgin Mary, 1426-29, Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent.
- Pearls: BAILLY, David, Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols, 1651, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden.
- Building: GIAMBONO, Michele, Birth of the Virgin, 1431-33, Mascoli Chapel, San Marco, Venice.
- Snake: CARAVAGGIO, Medusa, 1598-99, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
- Hooded figure: LAER, Pieter van, The Flagellants, c. 1635, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
- Bust: EYCK, Jan van, The Ghent Altarpiece: St John the Evangelist, 1432, Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent.
That's sad about Rembrandt's wife.