© Copyright Museo del Prado

The three panels owned by the Prado Museum formed part of a series of four that Botticelli, the most important Italian "Quattrocento" painter, was commissioned to do on the occasion of the celebration of the marriage vows that would link two important Florentine families; and it seems that the four decorated the four panels of a "wedding ark". These three were donated to the Prado in 1940 by the Catalán politician France Cambó; the fourth is part of a private collection in the United States. In them, Botticelli illustrated one of the stories told in Bocaccio's Decamerone. It is the nuptial story of the young Nastagio degli Onesti. Shunned by the woman of his heart, he was passing through a wood when he experienced a strange vision: that of a woman who was pursued and caught by a nobleman who tore her heart out and fed it to his dogs. Nastagio realized what this torment meant: it was the eternal punishment -recurring with a certain frequency- of a lady who spurned the love of a suitor who would commit suicide. The young man then arranged for a country outing in the same place where the tormenting vision had appeared to him and invited the proud maiden of his dreams. The scene repeated itself and the young woman, on Nastagio's urging to reconsider her position, agreed to marry him. The banquet scene of this wedding is the panel missing from the Prado.