Tarot Cards - Major Arcana - Court de Gebelin La Papesse (The Lady Pope) and L' Imperatrice (The Empress). The two cards from 1773, in Le Monde Primitif. Antoine Court (dit de Gebelin) was born in Nimes in 1728 and died in Paris in 1784. He is reputed to have been one of the most learned Frenchmen of his day, and during a long illness received magnetic treatment under the celebrated Mesmer. He was the first to propose the error that the Tarot cards were derived from Egypt, and were of almost fabulous antiquity. The cards published by De Gebelin were not coloured - the cards from this deck are hand-coloured, derived from the original engravings.