Getty Museum
Triumph of Chastity
Creator
Francesco di Giorgio MartiniItalian Artist · 1439–1501
All works by this person →The coiners of the term "a true Renaissance man" might have had versatile Francesco di Giorgio in mind: he was an architect, painter, sculptor, and military theoretician. At a time when Sienese artists were little known outside their native city, he worked at courts in Urbino, Naples, and Milan, where he met Leonardo da Vinci. Francesco probably trained with painter and sculptor Vecchietta; his ea
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- mid-1460s
- Medium
- Tempera on panel
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A chastised Cupid with bound arms and clipped wings walks before a unicorn-drawn chariot carrying the enthroned figure of Chastity to her six-sided temple. At either end of the panel is a bird, possibly a swan, which also symbolized chastity, draped with an escutcheon displaying a coat of arms. The arms belong to the Gabbrielli and Luti families, who celebrated a wedding in 1464. Artists often painted *cassoni*, chests designed to carry a bride's trousseau, with such themes as the Triumph of Chastity, invoking the bride to honor the sanctity of marriage and warning her of the consequences if she does not. *Cassoni* panels such as this one also often featured processions, recalling the nuptial processions in which the chests traveled with the bride to her husband's home. The ethereal figures, delicate linearity, and intricate patterning of the scene betray Francesco di Giorgio Martini's Sienese origins.
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