{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O102372"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102372/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EF9702/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EF9702/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EF9702","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AC5669","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AC5635","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX6172","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018LC3821","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O102372/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O102372","accessionNumber":"7897-1863","objectType":"Panel","titles":[{"title":"Horatius Cocles Defending the Sublician Bridge (cassone panel)","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Pesellino (Francesco di Giovanni, ca. 1422-1457) son of the painter Stefano di Francesco was the grandson of the more famous Florentine painter Pesello who trained him. By the early 1440's he joined Fra Filippo Lippi's workshop and  in 1453 he went into partnership with Piero di Lorenzo Prates and Zanobi di Migliore. His reputation grew in the mid-15th century and brought him the commissions of large-scale painting. \r\n\r\nThis front panel of a Florentine wedding chest (cassone) shows the story of the Roman hero Horatius Cocles defending the city of Rome, depicted in the background, from the attack of the Etruscan army. He is shown at the entrance of the Sublician bridge warding off the attackers. This panel is a fine example of lavishly decorated cassone, usually given by pair on the occasion of marriages.","physicalDescription":"A tangle of soldiers and horses on a river's bank with a bridge on the left and an encampment with golden pointed tents on the right; in the background a view of Rome.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Pesellino, Francesco","id":"A36014"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Follower of"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tempera","id":"AAT15062"},{"text":"chestnut","id":"AAT12039"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"tempera on sweet chestnut panel","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Renaissance (Italian)","id":"THES267857"},{"text":"Medieval and renaissance","id":"THES271264"}],"styles":[{"text":"Florentine School","id":"x31262"},{"text":"Renaissance","id":"AAT21140"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EF9702","2006AC5669","2006AC5635","2017JX6172","2018LC3821"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES304591"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"cassone","id":"AAT39007"}],[{"text":"tempera painting","id":"x40000"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Florence","id":"x28848"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1450","earliest":"1445-01-01","latest":"1454-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"43.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"134.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"38","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"painted surface","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"128.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"painted surface","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from C.M. Kauffmann, <i>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800</i>, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased, 1863\n\nHistorical significance: This painting constituted the front panel of a Florentine <i>cassone</i> (wedding chest), now dismantled, which represents the story of the Roman hero Horatius Cocles who saved Rome from capture by the Etruscan army led by Lars Porsena. This subject from the Roman Republican history is mentioned by Livy (2:10), Valerius Maximus, (3:2) and Virgil (<i>Aeneid</i>, 8:650).\r\n\r\nHoratius Cocles is here shown on the left defending the bridge across the Tiber, sword in hand, warding off the attackers while the Romans demolished the bridge behind him. On the right hand-side, Lars Porsena, the Etruscan commander, wearing a beard and a turban, sits before his tent while an emissary informed him about the development of the battle. In the background is depicted the city of Rome with, from far left, the Pantheon, the Castle S. Angelo and the Pyramid of Caius Cestius. At the last moment, when the bridge was finally destroyed, Horatius plunged into the river (bottom left) and crossed the river to safety. \r\n\r\nOriginally attributed by Schiaparelli (1908) to a follower of Pesellino, and by Schubring (1915) to the 'Master of the Tournament of S. Croce' (to whom he also attributed 5804-1859), this cassone panel was catalogued by C.M. Kauffmann as 'Florentine school, third quarter of the 15th century'. Another version, of similar composition but clearly executed by a different hand, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-3302) and another, known as ‘Morelli cassone’, attributed to Biagio d’Antonio and Jacopo del Sellaio, and dated 1472, is in the Courtauld Gallery, London (F.1947.LF.4). A third version was formerly in the collection of Mr Michael de Laszlo, New York.\r\n\r\nThe colour scheme of this cassone, dominated by a greenish blue, is particularly intriguing and differs notably from other surviving pieces. The figures are quite clumsy and not very well-proportioned which denotes a workshop's product. However the sense of movement provided by the weapons pointed in different directions and the tangle of horses is reminiscent of the art of Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) and Francesco Pesellino (ca. 1422-1457) in such examples as <i>David and Goliath</i>, ca. 1450, The National Gallery, London (NG6579) and the famous three panels for the 'Battle of San Romano' (National Gallery, London; Louvre, Paris; Uffizi, Florence). \r\n\r\nBattle scenes for wedding chests were not rare in the 15th century and illustrated mostly heroic virtues such as the dedication of a hero for the protection of his city, an act of bravery that was particularly praised and sought after by the humanists of the time. Particularly interesting are the outfit of the Etruscans dressed in the fashion of Constantinople during the last year of the Byzantine Empire (fall of Constantinople: 1453). These costumes were meant to distinguish the Roman army from the Etruscans but also echo the fascination of the Florentines for these resplendent robes they had seen during and after the Council of Florence (1439) where Byzantine high-ranking dignities came to discuss the possible reunification of the Eastern and Western Catholic churches. For instance a cassone panel illustrating the 'Conquest of Trebizond', attributed to Apollonio di Giovanni (Metropolitan Museum, New York, No.14.39) shows identical tents and  similarly dressed figures, not Florentines but Turks. These dresses added some festive note to the cassoni, which particularly suited  such merry event as weddings.","historicalContext":"The term <i>cassone</i> stands in Italian for chest and relates to large and ornate pieces of furniture made in Italy from the 14th to the end of the 16th centuries. They were generally made on the occasion of a relatively important wedding and contained the bride's trousseau. Writing in the mid-sixteenth century, Vasari describes <i>cassoni</i> thus:\r\n\r\n'…citizens of those times used to have in their apartments great wooden chests in the form of a sarcophagus, with the covers shaped in various fashions…and besides the stories that were wrought on the front and on the ends, they used to have the arms, or rather, insignia, of their houses painted on the corners, and sometimes elsewhere. And the stories that were wrought on the front were for the most part fables taken from Ovid and from other poets, or rather stories related by the Greek and Latin historians, and likewise chases, jousts, tales of love, and other similar subjects…'.\r\n\r\n(Giorgio Vasari, translated Gaston du C. de Vere, <i>Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects,</i> vol. 1, London 1996, p.267)\r\n\r\nThese lavishly decorated <i>cassoni</i>, often combined with pastiglia decoration, were generally commissioned in pairs. Florence, which specialised in the decoration of the front panel, was at that time the main centre of production, even though Siena and the Veneto also supplied <i>cassoni</i>. The painted decorations usually represented episodes from classical or biblical history or mythology appropriate for the newly wed. \r\nThe most flourishing <i>cassone</i> workshop in Florence was run by Marco del Buono Giamberti and Apollonio di Giovanni but major artists such as Domenico Veneziano and Botticelli may have decorated cassoni on occasion. Painted cassoni went out of fashion towards the end of the 15th century when carved oaken chests came into vogue.","briefDescription":"Cassone Panel painted with the scene of  Horatius Cocles defending the Sublician Bridge, Follower of Pesellino, ca. 1450","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kauffmann, C.M. <u>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800</u> London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 107-08, cat. no. 122"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"A. Schiaparelli, <u>La casa fiorentina</u>, 1908, p. 285 and fig. 169."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"P. Schubring, <u>Cassoni</u>, 1915, p. 255, no. 143."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ch. Huelsen, 'Di alcune nuove vedute prospettiche di Roma' in <u>Bollettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma</u>, xxxix, 1911, pp. 3-22."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"P. Thornton, <u>I mobili italiani del V&A</u>, II, 1969, pp. 77-86."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Cocles, Horatius","id":"N349"},{"text":"Porsenna, Lars","id":"N4237"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Bridge","id":"AAT7838"},{"text":"soldiers","id":"AAT236262"},{"text":"horses","id":"AAT162082"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["7897-1863"],"accessionNumberNum":"7897","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1863,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU3774"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-10","recordCreationDate":"2004-08-16","availableToBook":true}}