Catalogue of the exhibition (London, The Courtauld Gallery, 12 February – 17 May 2009)

Publisher's description:
This catalogue explores one of the most important and historically neglected art forms of Renaissance Florence: cassoni pairs of chests that were lavishly decorated with precious metals and elaborate paintings and were often the most expensive of a whole suite of decorative objects commissioned to celebrate marriage alliances between powerful families.
Cassoni were displayed in the husbands chamber and were used to store precious items such as clothes and textiles. The painted panels set into them told tales and history from ancient Greece, Rome and Palestine, as well as from Florentine literature and more recent history. These beautifully told and highly crafted pictorial narratives were intended to entertain as well as to instruct the household and its visitors.
The catalogue reflects the extensive iconographic range of cassone painting. Its focus, however, is around two of The Courtaulds great treasures: the pair of chests ordered in 1472 by the Florentine Lorenzo Morelli to celebrate his marriage with Vaggia Nerli. These are the only pair of cassoni to be still displayed with their painted backboards (spalliere). The unusual survival of both the chests and their commissioning documents enables a full examination of this remarkable commission.