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THE STORY OF NASTAGIO DEGLI
ONESTI (30 K) Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510) Tempera on wooden panel: 1,38 x 0,83, 1,38 x 0,82 and 1,42 x 0,84 Italian Painting (15th Century) Date: 1483 These three panels were originally part of a series of four and were commissioned to Botticelli for the important Florentine Pucci family. The cycle represents one of the tales from Boccaccio's Decamerone, the eighth story of the fifth journey entitled Hell for cruel lovers. The four panels remained in Florence belonging to the Pucci family until 1868, when they were sold. They were then the property of different collectors till 1929, when Mr. Francisco de Asís Cambó bought three of them from Joseph Spiridon's heirs. They were bestowed to the Prado by Mr. Cambó himself in 1941. The fourth panel is now in a private American collection. Likely, the series shaped the headboard of a nuptial bed, or was the decoration for a "cassone" (marriage chest to keep the bride's trousseau). Other scholars suggest that it was intended to adorn "spalliere", that is the wooden panels coffering the walls of cold and damp Florentine noble houses. Already in the 16th. century, Vasari ascribed the series to Botticelli, but specialists do not come to an agreement as the dissimilarities of style suggest the collaboration of other artists. Nowadays, scholars tend to admit that though the work ins not completely Botticelli's, its global conception and the design of the composition are his. The series was probably painted in 1483 as a wedding gift for two members of the Pucci and Bini families, as their coats-of-arms appear on the frames. Botticelli conforms faithfully with Boccacio's story even in the slightest details. The narrative character of the series is emphasized by the medieval-like inclusion of consecutive episodes within the same panel. | |||||||||||
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