Getty Museum

Battle Before a Walled City

Date

second half of 15th century

Medium

Tempera on panel

Culture

Italian

Department

Paintings

Institution

Getty Museum

Following from left to right, the episodes in this battle, identified as the siege of Troy, unfold. The figure on the extreme left underneath a royal tent may be the hero Achilles, holding his lance, covered with the rust that healed his wound. A battle rages outside the walls of Troy, presumably between Hector and the army of Achilles, and the victors enter the city at the upper right. This painting formed the front panel of a *cassone,* or wedding chest. A *cassone* panel is nearly always recognizable by its shape, about four to six feet wide and a foot or eighteen inches in height. Large workshops in Florence, whose members generally have remained anonymous, probably produced most *cassoni.* Individual panels such as this one were often the work of more than one artist.

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