No. 21

Tarot 21

L'Angelo, The Angel: At the top of the picture is a winged angel leaning down from a cloud and blowing a valveless trumpet. Below, three to six nude humans rise out of coffins or out of the earth. The Angel is its only early title in Italy. Also, in the oldest known card known to Dr Sigurd Agrell, there are two angels above the humans, and not just one.

The picture is invariably termed The Angel in the oldest references. "Angel" suggests what the focal point of the scene was. The winged being in the sky could be Hermes, known to Romans as Mercury, the guide of souls, a messenger between humans and gods, and much else, according to myths. But we do not know exactly who is depicted. Who the angel might be, if anyone in particular, has to remain unsettled for now. [Sharman-Burke]

The (Last) Judgement as a title and motif, must have been added, and the picture changed too. It now incorporates "the End of the World" idea. Some interpret the picture to represent evaluated accounts, perhaps condemnation of excessive egotism, and some brought to the surface [Allen; Hollander].