DOI issue:
Nr. 1-4
DOI article:Miziołek, Jerzy: The story of Lucretia on an Early-Renaissance "Cassone" at the National Museum in Warsaw
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18943#0037
Jerzy Miziołek
THE STORY OF LUCRETIA ON AN EARLY-RENAISSANCE CASSONE
AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW*
From the great number of decorated chests known as cassoni (also named goffani,
cofanior forzieri), presented in pairsto brides and carried in ceremoniał procession to
the spouse's home, from the mid-14th century until the end of the 1 5th century, barely
a few hundred examples have come down to the present day.1 Most surviving exhibits
of these costly pieces of furniture, having retained only their fronts or smaller
fragments, and such as various painted panels, are hung now in numerous galleries
and museums throughout Europę and America.2 By far the larger part of these cassoni
to be preserved to a greater or lesser degree are painted cassoni, while those adorned
entirely with gilt gesso decorations (pastiglia dorata) number not many morę than
about sixty. One of the latter cassoni ty pes, in the form of a totally preserved front, is to
befound in the collections of the National Museum in Warsa w (Figs. 1-7). Until now,
no materiał has been published on the subject of this cassone, just as the scenes
depicted on it have remained until this publication unrecognised3.
The front of the cassone (measuring 187 x 41 cm) is divided into four parts: two,
outermost parts, depicting seated female personifications (Figs. 3-4); and two, wider
and central parts, themselves subdivided by a twisting column, presenting group
scenes. The individual female personifications are portrayed under a pointed arch: one
of them is holding an anvil and a shield with a coat of arms (a column?); the other is
wielding a sword and a shield also depicting a coat of arms (a tree?). Ribbons in the
background delicately inscribed with the words Fortitudine and Giustitia leave no
doubt as to the identifications of the virtues. Both of these personifications are also
adorned with the dignity of heavy crowns placed on their heads.
* This article was first presented as a lecture in December 1 992 at the National Museum in Warsaw. I wish to
express my gratitude to Miss Paulina Ratkowska from the Museum for directing my attention to this the
only cassone adorned entirely with gilt gesso decoration to be found in Polish collections. I would also like
to thank Dr. V. Garibaldi from the National Gallery at Perugia and Dr Paolo Dal Pogetto from the National
Gallery at Urbino for the photographs sent to me. My warm thanks to Jean Michel Massing for
bibliographical references and Cristelle Baskins for sending me her recently published paper on
representations of Lucretia in Tuscan domestic painting. This article could not have been completed
without a research grant from the University of Warsaw.
1. A constantly indispensable publication on cassoni is P. Schubring, Cassoni. Truhen und Truhenbilder der
italienischen Fruhrenaisance. Ein Beitrag zur Profanmalerei im Ouattrocento, 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1 923, vols.
1-2, examining about 600 cassoni or their fragments. Morę than one hundred other surviving cassoni
belonging to private collections or in museum depositories are not included in Schubring's Corpus: many of
them still remain unpublished. The variety of names for the marriage chests throughout the Renaissance era
are investigated by Schubring, op. cit., p. 1 3; A. Schiaparelli, La casa fiorentina e isuoi arredi neisecoliXIV
eXV(reprinted from the first ed. 1908), Firenze, 1983, vol. 1, p. 257. P. Thornton, „Cassoni, forzieri, goffani
e casette, Terminology and its problems", Apollo, July 1 984, pp. 246-251; Idem, The Italian Renaissance
Interior 1400-1600, London, 1991, pp. 97, 192, 247. In the „Life of Delio Delii (1403-7467)", Giorgio
Vasari (Lives ofthe Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, tr. by J. Foster, vol. I, London, 1850,
p. 328) writes that in the times of this painter it became fashionable to paint large coffers or chests.
31
THE STORY OF LUCRETIA ON AN EARLY-RENAISSANCE CASSONE
AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW*
From the great number of decorated chests known as cassoni (also named goffani,
cofanior forzieri), presented in pairsto brides and carried in ceremoniał procession to
the spouse's home, from the mid-14th century until the end of the 1 5th century, barely
a few hundred examples have come down to the present day.1 Most surviving exhibits
of these costly pieces of furniture, having retained only their fronts or smaller
fragments, and such as various painted panels, are hung now in numerous galleries
and museums throughout Europę and America.2 By far the larger part of these cassoni
to be preserved to a greater or lesser degree are painted cassoni, while those adorned
entirely with gilt gesso decorations (pastiglia dorata) number not many morę than
about sixty. One of the latter cassoni ty pes, in the form of a totally preserved front, is to
befound in the collections of the National Museum in Warsa w (Figs. 1-7). Until now,
no materiał has been published on the subject of this cassone, just as the scenes
depicted on it have remained until this publication unrecognised3.
The front of the cassone (measuring 187 x 41 cm) is divided into four parts: two,
outermost parts, depicting seated female personifications (Figs. 3-4); and two, wider
and central parts, themselves subdivided by a twisting column, presenting group
scenes. The individual female personifications are portrayed under a pointed arch: one
of them is holding an anvil and a shield with a coat of arms (a column?); the other is
wielding a sword and a shield also depicting a coat of arms (a tree?). Ribbons in the
background delicately inscribed with the words Fortitudine and Giustitia leave no
doubt as to the identifications of the virtues. Both of these personifications are also
adorned with the dignity of heavy crowns placed on their heads.
* This article was first presented as a lecture in December 1 992 at the National Museum in Warsaw. I wish to
express my gratitude to Miss Paulina Ratkowska from the Museum for directing my attention to this the
only cassone adorned entirely with gilt gesso decoration to be found in Polish collections. I would also like
to thank Dr. V. Garibaldi from the National Gallery at Perugia and Dr Paolo Dal Pogetto from the National
Gallery at Urbino for the photographs sent to me. My warm thanks to Jean Michel Massing for
bibliographical references and Cristelle Baskins for sending me her recently published paper on
representations of Lucretia in Tuscan domestic painting. This article could not have been completed
without a research grant from the University of Warsaw.
1. A constantly indispensable publication on cassoni is P. Schubring, Cassoni. Truhen und Truhenbilder der
italienischen Fruhrenaisance. Ein Beitrag zur Profanmalerei im Ouattrocento, 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1 923, vols.
1-2, examining about 600 cassoni or their fragments. Morę than one hundred other surviving cassoni
belonging to private collections or in museum depositories are not included in Schubring's Corpus: many of
them still remain unpublished. The variety of names for the marriage chests throughout the Renaissance era
are investigated by Schubring, op. cit., p. 1 3; A. Schiaparelli, La casa fiorentina e isuoi arredi neisecoliXIV
eXV(reprinted from the first ed. 1908), Firenze, 1983, vol. 1, p. 257. P. Thornton, „Cassoni, forzieri, goffani
e casette, Terminology and its problems", Apollo, July 1 984, pp. 246-251; Idem, The Italian Renaissance
Interior 1400-1600, London, 1991, pp. 97, 192, 247. In the „Life of Delio Delii (1403-7467)", Giorgio
Vasari (Lives ofthe Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, tr. by J. Foster, vol. I, London, 1850,
p. 328) writes that in the times of this painter it became fashionable to paint large coffers or chests.
31