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#0057
and the latter in 1414, during military campaigns.64 The republican aspect, identifiable
in the Warsaw cassone, also appears in a number of Florentine cassoni originating
from the second half of the 1 5th century, but already in accordance with a different
iconographic formula. The central part of the front to the cassoni (sometimes being in
contradiction to the order of events) depicts Lucretia lying in the middle of the forum
with Brutusswearing vengeance on Tarquin.65 In this way, nextto the famous heroine,
a famous masculine equivalent appears, who according to Salutati was a model for the
man of justice.66 It is possible that this „masculine" accent on cassoni was connected
not only with denouncing tyranny but also with the fact that in the second half of the
1 5th century it was not the fathers of young brides who were supposed to provide the
cassoni nuziali, but rather the futurę husband themselves.67
ADDENDUM:
During the finał stage of the conservation of the Warsaw cassone front, an important
element has been found, i.e. a partially preserved motto on the shield held by Giustizia;
it reads GLOR(IA). Both a tree depicted on this shield and the fragment of motto
enable one to suggest that the cassone was executed for a member of the Passionei
family from Fossombrone. Their coat of arms includes a tree and a motto ,,Gloria in
excelsis". For the Passionei's arma see V. Spreti, Enciclopedia storico nobiliare
italiana, Appendice, parte II, Milano, 1936, pp. 4511,
Translated by Peter Martyn
53. On the subjects of ciothing in mid 15th cent. cf.: R. P. Calamandrei.Le vesti delle donnę fiorentine net
Ouattrocento, Roma, 1973, passim; R. Levi-Pisetsky, Storia deI costume in Italia, vol. II, II Trecento e //
Ouattrocento, Milano, 1964, esp. pp. 211 ff. It is interesting to notę that a bit heavy clothes (and even
courtly accents) resembling those worn in northern Italy and even in Burgundy or France which are to be
found on cassoni with gilt gesso decorations are present also in Florentine and Sienese art. This was the
result of both the prolonged stay in Tuscany of Gentile da Fabriano and impact of French or Burgundian
miniatures. It is enough to mention here some paintings of e.g. Fra Angelico, Uccello, Sassetta and
Domenico di Bartolo; the latter may well also been influenced by Domenico Veneziano. For Fra Angelico
and Uccello see: M. Boskovits, „Un'adorazione dei Magi e gli nizi delFAngelico" in: id, Immagini da
meditare, Milano 1994, pp. 309-68 and Figs. 21 8, 227, 228, 230; F. and S. Borsi, Paolo Uccello, Firenze,
1 992, Figs. on pp. 190, 241,253. For Sienese painters see K. Christiansen et al., Painting in Renaissance
Siena 1420-1500, New York, 1989, pp. 47ff and Figs. 10ff., and no. 2b. For influences from northern
Europę see e.g. Italienische Fruhrenaissance und nordeneuropaisches Spatmittelalter, ed. J. Poeschke,
Munchen , 1 993.
54. Stechow, „Lucretiae Statuę" op. cit., pp. 116 f. noted the popularity of this in Renaissance Florence.
55. For good/famous women see H. Schroeder, Der Topos der Ninę Worthies in Literatur undbildende Kunst,
Góttingen, 1 971, pp. 171 f., See also F. Novati, „Un cassone nuziale senese e le raffigurazioni delle donnę
illustri nell' arte italiana dei secoli XIV e XV", Rassegna d'arte XI, 4, 1911 pp. 61-65. About the
representations of Susanna on cassoni cf.: Callmann, The Growing Threat..., op. cit., p. 86; C. L. Baskins,
„La festa di Susanna: Virtue on Trial in Renaissance Sacred Drama and Painted Wedding Chests", Art
History, 14, 1991, pp. 329-344. Baskins is preparing a book on representations of famous women on
cassoni: Adversity's Heroines: Founding Myths of Gender and History in Tuscan Domestic Painting. On
Virginia, the next heroine of the arising Roman Republic, known Yom Ab urbe condita cf. Walton, op. cit.,
pp. 177-186, esp. p. 181. Scenes depicting this heroine, stabbed by her own father in orderto protect her
inheritance from a dishonest bureaucrat, sometimes appear on cassoni coupled with cassoni presenting
the story of Lucretia.
56. D. Herlihy and C. Klapisch-Zuber ,,Les Toscans et leurs famillies, Paris, 1978, pp. 394 ff. See also A.
Molho, „Deception and Marriage Strategy in Renaissance Florence: The Case of Womens Ages",
Renaissance Ouarterly, XLI, 1988, pp. 193-217.
57. B. L. Ullman, The Humanism of Coluccio Salutati, Padova, 1 963, p. 34; Baron, op. cit., p. 11 5; Menestro,
loc, cit.; R. G. Witt, Hercules at the Crossroads. The Life, Work, and Thought of Coluccio Salutati, Durham,
1983, pp. 83 and 434. In Jed, op. cit. there is a detailed analysis of Declamatio Lucretiae.
51
in the Warsaw cassone, also appears in a number of Florentine cassoni originating
from the second half of the 1 5th century, but already in accordance with a different
iconographic formula. The central part of the front to the cassoni (sometimes being in
contradiction to the order of events) depicts Lucretia lying in the middle of the forum
with Brutusswearing vengeance on Tarquin.65 In this way, nextto the famous heroine,
a famous masculine equivalent appears, who according to Salutati was a model for the
man of justice.66 It is possible that this „masculine" accent on cassoni was connected
not only with denouncing tyranny but also with the fact that in the second half of the
1 5th century it was not the fathers of young brides who were supposed to provide the
cassoni nuziali, but rather the futurę husband themselves.67
ADDENDUM:
During the finał stage of the conservation of the Warsaw cassone front, an important
element has been found, i.e. a partially preserved motto on the shield held by Giustizia;
it reads GLOR(IA). Both a tree depicted on this shield and the fragment of motto
enable one to suggest that the cassone was executed for a member of the Passionei
family from Fossombrone. Their coat of arms includes a tree and a motto ,,Gloria in
excelsis". For the Passionei's arma see V. Spreti, Enciclopedia storico nobiliare
italiana, Appendice, parte II, Milano, 1936, pp. 4511,
Translated by Peter Martyn
53. On the subjects of ciothing in mid 15th cent. cf.: R. P. Calamandrei.Le vesti delle donnę fiorentine net
Ouattrocento, Roma, 1973, passim; R. Levi-Pisetsky, Storia deI costume in Italia, vol. II, II Trecento e //
Ouattrocento, Milano, 1964, esp. pp. 211 ff. It is interesting to notę that a bit heavy clothes (and even
courtly accents) resembling those worn in northern Italy and even in Burgundy or France which are to be
found on cassoni with gilt gesso decorations are present also in Florentine and Sienese art. This was the
result of both the prolonged stay in Tuscany of Gentile da Fabriano and impact of French or Burgundian
miniatures. It is enough to mention here some paintings of e.g. Fra Angelico, Uccello, Sassetta and
Domenico di Bartolo; the latter may well also been influenced by Domenico Veneziano. For Fra Angelico
and Uccello see: M. Boskovits, „Un'adorazione dei Magi e gli nizi delFAngelico" in: id, Immagini da
meditare, Milano 1994, pp. 309-68 and Figs. 21 8, 227, 228, 230; F. and S. Borsi, Paolo Uccello, Firenze,
1 992, Figs. on pp. 190, 241,253. For Sienese painters see K. Christiansen et al., Painting in Renaissance
Siena 1420-1500, New York, 1989, pp. 47ff and Figs. 10ff., and no. 2b. For influences from northern
Europę see e.g. Italienische Fruhrenaissance und nordeneuropaisches Spatmittelalter, ed. J. Poeschke,
Munchen , 1 993.
54. Stechow, „Lucretiae Statuę" op. cit., pp. 116 f. noted the popularity of this in Renaissance Florence.
55. For good/famous women see H. Schroeder, Der Topos der Ninę Worthies in Literatur undbildende Kunst,
Góttingen, 1 971, pp. 171 f., See also F. Novati, „Un cassone nuziale senese e le raffigurazioni delle donnę
illustri nell' arte italiana dei secoli XIV e XV", Rassegna d'arte XI, 4, 1911 pp. 61-65. About the
representations of Susanna on cassoni cf.: Callmann, The Growing Threat..., op. cit., p. 86; C. L. Baskins,
„La festa di Susanna: Virtue on Trial in Renaissance Sacred Drama and Painted Wedding Chests", Art
History, 14, 1991, pp. 329-344. Baskins is preparing a book on representations of famous women on
cassoni: Adversity's Heroines: Founding Myths of Gender and History in Tuscan Domestic Painting. On
Virginia, the next heroine of the arising Roman Republic, known Yom Ab urbe condita cf. Walton, op. cit.,
pp. 177-186, esp. p. 181. Scenes depicting this heroine, stabbed by her own father in orderto protect her
inheritance from a dishonest bureaucrat, sometimes appear on cassoni coupled with cassoni presenting
the story of Lucretia.
56. D. Herlihy and C. Klapisch-Zuber ,,Les Toscans et leurs famillies, Paris, 1978, pp. 394 ff. See also A.
Molho, „Deception and Marriage Strategy in Renaissance Florence: The Case of Womens Ages",
Renaissance Ouarterly, XLI, 1988, pp. 193-217.
57. B. L. Ullman, The Humanism of Coluccio Salutati, Padova, 1 963, p. 34; Baron, op. cit., p. 11 5; Menestro,
loc, cit.; R. G. Witt, Hercules at the Crossroads. The Life, Work, and Thought of Coluccio Salutati, Durham,
1983, pp. 83 and 434. In Jed, op. cit. there is a detailed analysis of Declamatio Lucretiae.
51