© Copyright Museo del Prado
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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. |