DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Spychalska-Boczkowska, Anna: Diana with Meleagros and Actaeon: some remarks on a XV-century Italian cassone
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18816#0045
4. Florentine School, early XV century, Diana and Actaeon, London,
Burne Jones Collection (phot. after Schubring)
senting evil and Satan.14 TI13 world of virtue and vice, as cmbodied in the persons of Meleagros
and Actaeon finds its morał estimition expressed by th; judgment of Diana punishing Actaeon
with death and bestowing favour on Meleagros who then overpowers the beast. For Meleagros
bas been granted contemplation of one of the highest Christian virtues - Purity, personified by
Diana compared to the Virgin Mary by Boccaccio.15 In the XIV century Bibie des Poetes we
read: morallement entendre, par cette deesse nous pouvons prendre la Vierge Marie glorieuse damę
et royne du ciel ... Ze cerf cornu c'es( le diable plein d^rgueil est surmonte.lts The central idea of the
composition is triumph of purity supported by noble powcr over evil symbolized by the beast
and Actaeon. In a print made after Baccio Bandinelli we come across a similar arrangment of
the idea. By the side of Hercules, representing manly virtue, Diana is seen as symbol of purity 5
14. Bardon, op. cif., 0. 7, 72, 126; E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconology, New York, 1962, p. 156; A. Maury, Croyanr.es el Lj-
gendes du Moyen Agc, Paris, 1896, p. 240.
15. Boccacio, Genealogia Deorum, Venise, 1472, ed. V. Romano, Scrittori d'Italia, 1951, V. II, p. 801; Dante writes about
Diana as a symbol of purity and Virgin Mary {Purgalorium XXV). See Reallexikon zur Deulsrhen Kunstgeschiclite, Stut-
tgart, 1954, s. v. Diana; Bardon, op. cii., p. 5, E. Panofsky, op. cit., p. 149. '" ■
16. La Bibie des Poetes, Bruges, 1424; eited after Bardon, op. cii., p. 7.
17. Panofsky, op. cit., note 15, p. 149.
35
Burne Jones Collection (phot. after Schubring)
senting evil and Satan.14 TI13 world of virtue and vice, as cmbodied in the persons of Meleagros
and Actaeon finds its morał estimition expressed by th; judgment of Diana punishing Actaeon
with death and bestowing favour on Meleagros who then overpowers the beast. For Meleagros
bas been granted contemplation of one of the highest Christian virtues - Purity, personified by
Diana compared to the Virgin Mary by Boccaccio.15 In the XIV century Bibie des Poetes we
read: morallement entendre, par cette deesse nous pouvons prendre la Vierge Marie glorieuse damę
et royne du ciel ... Ze cerf cornu c'es( le diable plein d^rgueil est surmonte.lts The central idea of the
composition is triumph of purity supported by noble powcr over evil symbolized by the beast
and Actaeon. In a print made after Baccio Bandinelli we come across a similar arrangment of
the idea. By the side of Hercules, representing manly virtue, Diana is seen as symbol of purity 5
14. Bardon, op. cif., 0. 7, 72, 126; E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconology, New York, 1962, p. 156; A. Maury, Croyanr.es el Lj-
gendes du Moyen Agc, Paris, 1896, p. 240.
15. Boccacio, Genealogia Deorum, Venise, 1472, ed. V. Romano, Scrittori d'Italia, 1951, V. II, p. 801; Dante writes about
Diana as a symbol of purity and Virgin Mary {Purgalorium XXV). See Reallexikon zur Deulsrhen Kunstgeschiclite, Stut-
tgart, 1954, s. v. Diana; Bardon, op. cii., p. 5, E. Panofsky, op. cit., p. 149. '" ■
16. La Bibie des Poetes, Bruges, 1424; eited after Bardon, op. cii., p. 7.
17. Panofsky, op. cit., note 15, p. 149.
35