Siege of Naples
ArtistAttributed to a Florentine follower of
Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi (Lo Scheggia)
called the Master of the London and Sarasota sieges (Italian, 1406 - 1486)
Date1460s
MediumOil and tempera on wood
DimensionsFrame: 22 1/8 H x 70 7/8 W x c. 2 3/4 D in. (56.2 x 180.1 x c. 7 cm)
Unframed support: 16 1/4 H x 64 7/8 W x c. 13/16 D in. (41.2 x 164.8 x c. 2 cm)
Unframed support: 16 1/4 H x 64 7/8 W x c. 13/16 D in. (41.2 x 164.8 x c. 2 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN14
Alfonso of Aragon laid siege to Naples in 1441, just a few years before this painting was made. The attack on the city walls is shown as a confusion of soldiers, horses, banners, and weapons. On the left is the military encampment; on the right, the capitulation of the king, René of Anjou. With his military victory, Alfonso secured the crown of Naples for himself. This rare subject may have been commissioned by a Florentine family with diplomatic or military ties to Alfonso. This panel once adorned a cassone - Italian for "large chest."
On View
On viewLocation
Bibliography- Museum of Art, Gallery 05
Florence 1949, p. 30. Suida 1949, no. 14 [Anghiari Master]. Fredericksen and Zeri 1972, pp. 222, 635 [Florentine]. Callmann 1974, pp. 46, 87. Tomory 1976, no. 14 [Florentine]. Callmann 1979, pp. 24, 30. Sarasota 1984, no. 51. Frinta 1998, vol. 1, p. 138. Bellosi and Haines 1999, p. 95 [Lo Scheggia]. Valdes Sanchez 2004, pp. 206-9. Alisio et al. 2006 [Master of the Triumph of Alfonso]. Boston 2008, pp. 147-50. Helas 2008. London 2009, no. 7 [Florentine Follower of Lo Scheggia, called the Master of the Ringling Triumph].
Giovanni del Biondo
late 1380s
