Playing Cards

Playing cards first appeared in the 11th century. Most cultures dedicated the court cards (Jack, Queen, King) to different historical leaders and other significant people. The people illustrated in this collection of playing cards coincide with the Parisian Interpretation, the most popular theory of card naming. Each of my cards illustrates a scene from the life of the person designated to that card. When researching each of these people, I unintentionally became drawn away from their textbook achievements and drawn toward their personal lives and scandalous secrets, which is how I chose to illustrate each of them.