Art pack II, Austria
Renaissance portraits by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Hans Holbein, Barthel Beham, Christoph Amberger and many others.
Printed by Piatnik (no. 118814) and published by the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, this undated pack (purchased in April 2024 in the Museum) features German Renaissance portraits by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Hans Holbein, Barthel Beham, Christoph Amberger, and many others. One non-German painter is represented – Jan van Eyck. Though a Flemish painter he is considered one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. The pack contains three jokers, two of which are indicated by a star (*). The reverse shows Dürer’s Junge Venezianerin, 1506 (Portrait of a Venetian Woman). See the box
Above: Art pack printed by Piatnik (no. 118814) and published by the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, undated. The reverse shows Dürer’s Junge Venezianerin, 1506 (Portrait of a Venetian Woman).
Note: on the Piatnik website this pack is titled Art Pack II. There appears to be an Art pack I (no. 147715) also published by the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
By Peter Burnett
Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
Related Articles
Ukraine playing cards
Historical figures from Ukraine’s past in a familiar Piatnik style.
MITSCHKAtzen
Clever cat designs by the Austrian artist and illustrator Willi Mitschka.
Tarock Cards by NIL Spielkartenfabrik
A deck of tarock cards from the eastern end of the ending Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Whist by Ditha Moser
Ditha Moser created this minimalist Whist deck in 1905, in the style of the Vienna Secession art mov...
Gabriel Uffenheimer
Rare example of the production of Johann Gabriel Uffenheimer, Guntramsdorf, 1825.
Treasures from the Bodleian Library
Rare books, manuscripts, music scores, portraits, maps, gospels, chronicles and other valuable artef...
Carte di Natale
Designed by Pier Canosa as a Christmas pack for the Cortina Art Gallery in Milan.
Queen of Arts
A wide variety of women artists celebrated on cards with illustrations by Laura Callaghan.
Play Architecture
Twentieth century architects and their creations on a well-designed pack from Finland.
Art pack I
Art pack featuring Old Masters, including Bruegel, Vermeer, Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio, Canaletto, ...
Karl Korab
Austrian artist Karl Korab’s first pack, displaying his use of different techniques.
Johann Nejedly Tarok Cards
Johann Nejedly, a 19th-century Viennese card maker, produced Tarock cards featuring modern scenes th...
Austria Ski Team playing cards
Photos of members of the Austrian skiing team replace the normal courts on two different packs.
Grunwald 1410 – The Battle of Tannenberg
Details from the famous painting of the Battle of Grunwald (1410) by the Polish painter Jan Matejko....
Famous Faces playing cards
Images of the great and the good to be found in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Colonial Art
A collection of 53 pieces of art showcasing detailed scenes from early American colonial life.
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days
