From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
The Emperor
Meanings
Patriarchal Authority. Virility. Competition, aggression, desire to rule. Masculine strength. Rational intelligence, decisiveness, logic. Order, structure, rules to be followed.
Reversed (?)
A stubborn man. Misguided action, inability to compromise even when that is the logical course. Inconstancy, indecisiveness.
Description
An alert, bearded fatherly figure sits on a stone throne adorned by rams' heads. He holds an orb and scepter, and wears a bejeweled crown and majestic gold-trimmed cape and gloves. Around his neck he wears a black eagle on a gold medallion. His long beard and hair are graying, but he is still a strong, confident figure of authority, a man of experience and earthly power.
Artwork
- Throne, rams' heads: RUBENS, Pieter Pauwel, Raising of the Cross, 1610, O.-L. Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp.
- Emperor: DURER, Albrecht, Emperor Charlemagne, c.1512, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
- Face: AMBERGER, Christoph, Goldsmith Jörg Zürer of Augsburg, 1531, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
- Brown tunic: BEHAM, Barthel, Portrait of a Man, 1525-30, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.
