Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Italian Hope Chests

I really am still here... just very busy, it won't last too much longer. In the meantime it occurred to me to point you to an article I wrote about the Italian Hope Chest (cassone in Italian) for TuttoRicamo. (**This article can now be found here)


It is a subject that fascinates me. Do you see the two ladies in the background of this marvelous Titian painting digging in what looks like a matching pair of cassoni?


A great book in English on painted cassoni of the Renaissance is The Triumph of Marriage by Cristelle Baskins. The painting above was done for a cassone by Botticelli and depicts the story of Lucrezia.

Venus of Urbino painted in 1538 by Titian - image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Story of Lucrezia painted between 1496 and 1504 by Botticelli - image courtesy of Wikipedia.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2011 at 12:35 AM

    Jeanine, thank you for the link to that fine article of yours. It's got my creative juices going, and now I'm wondering just who had 'Venus and Mars' on their cassone. Tantalising!

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  2. Jeanine in CanadaFebruary 10, 2011 at 2:07 PM

    Hi Linda,
    It is said that it was a commission for the Vespucci family though I don't have a source for that info.
    http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/Sandro/44paiennes2_english.html

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  3. Jeanine in CanadaFebruary 10, 2011 at 2:12 PM

    Ops! darn enter key!
    Sorry, I hadn't finished. There is also the theory that it was commissioned for Lorenzo de'Medici's daughter Lucrezia.
    http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-166945233.html
    Now, I'm done... LOL!

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