Master of Marradi, 'The Story of the Schoolmaster of Falerii', late 15th century

This is a cassone, or wedding chest, a traditional part of the furnishing of a wealthy Renaissance home. Pairs of chests were often purchased by the groom as part of the ‘counter-dowry’, and then placed in his chamber to store linen and fine clothes. They were expensive and prestigious items, and were handed down as heirlooms from generation to generation.

The scenes painted on cassoni were often drawn from classical literature or the Bible, and ancient legends and heroes were selected as appropriate for a wedding – as in Story of David Panels from a Pair of Cassoni (?) – or to illustrate particular virtues. Florentines were very interested in Roman history and the story chosen for this chest was taken from Livy’s History of Rome. It tells how a schoolmaster from Falerii tried to betray his city by offering a besieging Roman general a group of children as hostages. The general was shocked at such behaviour and refused to take them. Both children and master were returned to Falerii, where the citizens, impressed by the general’s honourable behaviour, promptly surrendered the city.

In the centre of the panel you can see the schoolmaster, in a red gown and hat, leading the children out of the city gates and through the hills to the Roman camp. On the right he kneels before the general, Camillus, and offers him the hostages; on the left, Camillus receives the key to the city from a group of elders. In the background, inside the walls of the city, the citizens beat the treacherous schoolmaster as punishment.

Although drawn from classical literature, the story has been reworked to make it appealing and meaningful to contemporary Italians – everyone is in versions of fifteenth-century dress, and Falerii is shown as a walled medieval town rather than a classical city. Given their original position near the floor, cassone pictures may well have been used as moral exempla for children, to give examples of honourable behaviour and to teach them what would be expected of them as adults.

Although cassoni were made throughout Italy, they have been particularly associated with Tuscany and Florence. The artist, the so-called Master of Marradi, was a close follower of Domenico Ghirlandaio and specialised in depicting historical scenes with figures in contemporary dress. There are examples of his cassoni panels in Harewood House, Yorkshire, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and elsewhere.

This panel was originally very bright in colour: the silver and gold of the soldiers‘ armour and the horses’ harnesses (now discoloured) are decorated with punch marks, which would have shone and glimmered by candle light.