2
Exhibitions
Life, Love
& Marriage in
Renaissance Italy
August 3–November 4, 2018
Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries
Drawing on a selection of outstanding panels and complete
cassoni—elaborately decorated wedding chests—together
with textiles, majolica ware, paintings, and other domestic
items, this exhibition explores and illustrates domestic life in
Renaissance Florence.
During the Italian Renaissance, cassoni were an important
part of marriage rituals and were among the most prestigious
furnishings in the house or palace of a new couple. Serving as
status symbols, they demonstrated the family’s wealth and
position in society. Cassoni were often conspicuously paraded
through the streets from the bride’s family home to her
husband’s home as a clear statement of a new economic and
political alliance between elite families. The stories and
imagery selected to decorate the chests tell us much about
Renaissance life and society. This exhibition was organized by
Contemporanea Progetti in collaboration with Museo Stibbert,
and is supported by the Mildred L. Stolberg Fund and a grant
from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of
Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, called
Sandro Botticelli (Florence 1445–1510) Florence)
and Workshop, Madonna and Child, ca. 1490,
tempera and gold on panel, 28 7 ⁄ 8 in. x 22 5 ⁄ 8 in.,
collection of Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy.