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Diana, Callisto and Arcas: a matrimonial panel from the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts
Author(s) -
Simonneau Karinne
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
renaissance studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1477-4658
pISSN - 0269-1213
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-4658.2007.00346.x
Subject(s) - legend , fifteenth , vernacular , iconography , painting , folklore , art , art history , visual arts , history , literature , classics
A Florentine wedding chest (conserved in the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts) painted with scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses is used to explain why this iconography is extremely unusual for the first part of the fifteenth century. This painting is placed in its matrimonial, ritual and folkloric contexts. The story of Diana and Callisto is also compared with vernacular texts of the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, where the legend of Diana, Arcas and Callisto is described. This method opens up new areas of investigation, revealing an iconological reading that explains this choice of a tragic legend to decorate a wedding gift.