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#0051
15. The story of Lucretia, cassone, Urbino, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche (Photo Urbino,
Galeria Nazionale delle Marche)
28. Lloyd, op. cit., pp. 132-3, Fig. 93 suggests the Neapolitan school, not dismissing, nevertheless, Florentine
influences; cf. Boskovits, Maestro..., op. cit., p. 47; according to Schubring, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 368, it
belongs to the Verona School.
29. Ibidem, p. 368, vol. II, tab. CXXXVIII, no. 644, where it is defined as a work of the Verona School from
about 1430. Cf. Boskovits, Maestro..., op, cit., p. 47.
30. The question of creating in the 19th century such newchests remains little known, although it would seem
that they were madę by superb craftsmen basing their designs on the very smali number of original and
well - preserved cassoni to have survived. A beautiful example of such a chest containing the above
mentioned cassone front depicting the story of Lucretia is kept in the Czartoryski Collection. For some
examples of both entirely new cassoni and new cassoni containing original fronts produced in the second
half of the 19th century see A.M. Massinelli, // mobile Toscano, Milano, 1993, p. 11 2 and Figs. 208f.
31. In the middle of the Cracow cassone, exhibited in the foreground, is an intriguing and still unexplained
scene portraying a dead or badly-injured man with a beard. This could be a scene depicting the death of
Sixtus Tarquinius at Gabii. A scene depicting the lament of Lucretia and presenting Brutus swearing
vengeance and the death of Tarquin can be found on a number of cassoni from the second half of the 1 5th
century, thus going againstthe order of narration. According to Różycka-Bryzek, op. cit., p. 269, the scene
from the middle of the cassone depicts „dressing the wounds of the injured (if not pillaging a killed foe)".
32. Cf. notes 18 and 19.
33. The materiał mentioned in this article apparently contradicts the opinion of certain researchers that in the
case of the casson/there were no preferred themes, cf. Callmann, The Growing Threat... op. cit., p. 74: „no
one story seems to have been favoured, and as a rule only a few examples of each have survived". There
can be no doubting, however, that the story of Lucretia was one of the most preferred themes; over a dozen
cassonidating from the first half of the Ouattrocento with this theme have survived, furthermore most of
these do not possess their pendants.
34. Two or three cassoni were connected with Spinello himself one of which, presenting a scene from the
myth of Actaeon, belonging presently to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: cf. Schubring, op. cit. nos.
22-23, vol. I, p. 224, Plates, III, VII; cf. F. Zeri and E. E. Gardner, Italian Paintings. A Catalogue of the
Collection ofthe Metropolitan Museum of Art. Florentine School, New York, 1971, pp. 73-75. See also
W. Rankin, "Cassone Fronts and Salvers in American Collections", Burlington Magazine, XIII, 1908 p.
382; C.E. Rava, Mobilid'ognitempo, Milan, 1 947, Fig. 2. For Spinello see G. Gombosi, Spinello, Aretino,
Budapest 1926; M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, Firenze, 1975, pp. 141-7
and 1430-42.; II Gotico a Siena: miniaturę, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti d’arte. Catalogo della mostra,
Firenze, 1992 pp. 299-303 with further bibliography. Needless to say that the artistic level of the Master of
Ladislas of Durazzo is much lower than Spinello's. It seems that at least two or three cassoni ascribed to
the master show affinities with works of Parri cf, a cassone depicting the Triumph of Famę, now in a private
colection in Italy, reproduced in Callmann, Apollonio di Giovanni... op. cit., Fig. 25 and famous Our Lady
of Mercy in Santa Maria della Misericorida at Arezzo, reproduced in: M. Aronberg Lavin, Piero della
Francesca, New York, 1992, Fig. 12. On Parri see M.J. Zuker, ParriSpinelli:Aretine Painterofthe Fifteenth
Century, Ph. D. 1973, Ann Arbor, 1979. The works of Parri predating 1427 remain unknown.
35. A detailed analysis is to be found in another article currently being prepared: ,,Observations on some
cassoni of the Master of Ladislas of Durazzo”.
45
Galeria Nazionale delle Marche)
28. Lloyd, op. cit., pp. 132-3, Fig. 93 suggests the Neapolitan school, not dismissing, nevertheless, Florentine
influences; cf. Boskovits, Maestro..., op. cit., p. 47; according to Schubring, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 368, it
belongs to the Verona School.
29. Ibidem, p. 368, vol. II, tab. CXXXVIII, no. 644, where it is defined as a work of the Verona School from
about 1430. Cf. Boskovits, Maestro..., op, cit., p. 47.
30. The question of creating in the 19th century such newchests remains little known, although it would seem
that they were madę by superb craftsmen basing their designs on the very smali number of original and
well - preserved cassoni to have survived. A beautiful example of such a chest containing the above
mentioned cassone front depicting the story of Lucretia is kept in the Czartoryski Collection. For some
examples of both entirely new cassoni and new cassoni containing original fronts produced in the second
half of the 19th century see A.M. Massinelli, // mobile Toscano, Milano, 1993, p. 11 2 and Figs. 208f.
31. In the middle of the Cracow cassone, exhibited in the foreground, is an intriguing and still unexplained
scene portraying a dead or badly-injured man with a beard. This could be a scene depicting the death of
Sixtus Tarquinius at Gabii. A scene depicting the lament of Lucretia and presenting Brutus swearing
vengeance and the death of Tarquin can be found on a number of cassoni from the second half of the 1 5th
century, thus going againstthe order of narration. According to Różycka-Bryzek, op. cit., p. 269, the scene
from the middle of the cassone depicts „dressing the wounds of the injured (if not pillaging a killed foe)".
32. Cf. notes 18 and 19.
33. The materiał mentioned in this article apparently contradicts the opinion of certain researchers that in the
case of the casson/there were no preferred themes, cf. Callmann, The Growing Threat... op. cit., p. 74: „no
one story seems to have been favoured, and as a rule only a few examples of each have survived". There
can be no doubting, however, that the story of Lucretia was one of the most preferred themes; over a dozen
cassonidating from the first half of the Ouattrocento with this theme have survived, furthermore most of
these do not possess their pendants.
34. Two or three cassoni were connected with Spinello himself one of which, presenting a scene from the
myth of Actaeon, belonging presently to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: cf. Schubring, op. cit. nos.
22-23, vol. I, p. 224, Plates, III, VII; cf. F. Zeri and E. E. Gardner, Italian Paintings. A Catalogue of the
Collection ofthe Metropolitan Museum of Art. Florentine School, New York, 1971, pp. 73-75. See also
W. Rankin, "Cassone Fronts and Salvers in American Collections", Burlington Magazine, XIII, 1908 p.
382; C.E. Rava, Mobilid'ognitempo, Milan, 1 947, Fig. 2. For Spinello see G. Gombosi, Spinello, Aretino,
Budapest 1926; M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, Firenze, 1975, pp. 141-7
and 1430-42.; II Gotico a Siena: miniaturę, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti d’arte. Catalogo della mostra,
Firenze, 1992 pp. 299-303 with further bibliography. Needless to say that the artistic level of the Master of
Ladislas of Durazzo is much lower than Spinello's. It seems that at least two or three cassoni ascribed to
the master show affinities with works of Parri cf, a cassone depicting the Triumph of Famę, now in a private
colection in Italy, reproduced in Callmann, Apollonio di Giovanni... op. cit., Fig. 25 and famous Our Lady
of Mercy in Santa Maria della Misericorida at Arezzo, reproduced in: M. Aronberg Lavin, Piero della
Francesca, New York, 1992, Fig. 12. On Parri see M.J. Zuker, ParriSpinelli:Aretine Painterofthe Fifteenth
Century, Ph. D. 1973, Ann Arbor, 1979. The works of Parri predating 1427 remain unknown.
35. A detailed analysis is to be found in another article currently being prepared: ,,Observations on some
cassoni of the Master of Ladislas of Durazzo”.
45