Panel from a Cassone: The Race of the Palio in the Streets of Florence

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Panel from a Cassone: The Race of the Palio in the Streets of Florence as painting (Italy, Florence · 1418).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

A cassone was a wooden chest used for the storage of clothing, an essential piece of furniture in Italian homes during the Renaissance and often produced in matched sets. The cassone was often made on the occasion of a marriage and elaborately decorated with painted scenes and gilded moldings.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this painting as tempera and gold on wood and credits Giovanni Francesco Toscani (Italian, c. 1380–1430).

The museum's collection notes: A cassone was a wooden chest used for the storage of clothing, an essential piece of furniture in Italian homes during the Renaissance and often produced in matched sets. The cassone was often made on the occasion of a marriage and elaborately decorated with painted scenes and gilded moldings. This panel comes from such a painted cassone. It was not uncommon for the painted decoration to represent a memorable event at the time of the marriage. This scene depicts the end of the Palio, a horse race held in the streets of Florence on the Feast of John the Baptist (June 24). The panel from the other side of the cassone is now preserved in the Bar

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtPanel from a Cassone: The Race of the Palio in the Streets of Florence

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