Many of the original images bear a resemblance to characters and themes in the Triumphs of Petrarch, a series of poems written between 1340 and 1374; the Triumph of Love, the Triumph of Chastity, then of Death, of Fame, of Time and of Eternity. The poems became very popular for their spiritual and moral teachings over the next century or so, and were often illustrated with paintings, woodcuts and engravings; some of these are similar to some of the early Tarot cards. It is well within the realms of possibility that the original Tarot packs (trionfi) were nothing more nor less than a means of illustrating Petrarch’s Triumphs.
– A Brief History of Secret Societies: An Unbiased History of Our Desire for Secret Knowledge (1997), p. 189