Battle between Romans and Gauls
Artist
The Florentine School
(Italian, 13th to 16th centuries)
Date1470s
CultureItalian
MediumTempera and oil on wood
ClassificationPaintings
ProvenanceÉmile Gavet (1829–1904), Paris; sold in or after 1889 and before 1895 to William K. Vanderbilt (1849–1920) and Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt (1853–1933, from 1896, Mrs. Oliver Belmont) and installed in the Gothic Room of Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island; sold in 1927 by Mrs. Belmont through Duveen Brothers, New York, to John Ringling (1866–1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN13
This panel once adorned a cassone - Italian meaning "large chest." Made in pairs to celebrate marriages, cassoni were carried in bridal processions and then placed in bedrooms where they stored household goods like clothing and linens.
This panel shows a battle between Romans (identified by their banners bearing the initials SPQR) and Gauls. Banners and shields emblazoned with black roosters identify some Gauls, while others are naked wild-men. Medici family heraldry appears on the bridle of a white horse at the left suggesting that the cassone was made for a Medici patron or ally.
On View
On viewLocation
- Museum of Art, Gallery 05
Collections
Unframed support: 17 H x 61 1/2 W x 1/2 D in. (43.2 x 156.2 x 1.3 cm)
Image: 16 1/8 H x 60 3/4 W in. (40.9 x 154.3 cm)
