workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni and workshop of Marco del Buono, 'Birth Tray: The Triumph of Love', probably about 1453-5
About the work
Overview
Pictures of this size and shape – it has 12 sides – were known as deschi da parte (or birth trays), and were common in fifteenth-century Florence. Originally made to bring food to a woman during labour, they later became symbolic gifts to celebrate marriage or childbirth.
They were, like this one, lavishly decorated, usually with non-religious images. This painting illustrates a poem by the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch, which describes ‘The Triumph of Love’. Love is represented as a naked, winged young man riding a chariot, ready to strike the crowd below with his arrows, which would make them fall in love.
Coats of arms decorate the reverse of the tray – those of the couple for whom it was made. The woman was a member of the del Zaccheria family. The heron that dominates the reverse might be a pun on her husband’s name, Arditi: ardea means heron in Italian.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Birth Tray: The Triumph of Love
- Artist
- workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni and workshop of Marco del Buono
- Artist dates
- 1415/17 - 1465; about 1403 - after 1480
- Date made
- probably about 1453-5
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 61.8 × 62.1 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Henry Wagner, 1924
- Inventory number
- NG3898
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 1, London 2003; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2011There Is More In You: Images of Women in the Middle Ages (13th - 15th centuries)Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa / Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao7 February 2011 - 15 May 2011
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2014Making ColourThe National Gallery (London)18 June 2014 - 7 September 2014
Bibliography
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1884H.G. Bohn, Catalogue of the Pictures, Miniatures and Art Books Collected during the Last Fifty Years by Henry George Bohn, London 1884
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1894'Review of New Gallery Exhibition (Second Notice)', The Athenaeum, 1894
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1899E. Müntz, 'Les plateaux et les coupes d'accouchées aux XVe et XVIe siècles. Nouvelles recherches', Revue de l'Art, V, 1899, pp. 425-8
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1902E. Müntz and V. Masséna, Pétrarque: Ses études d'art, son influence sur les artistes, ses portraits et ceux de Laure, l'illustration de ses écrits, Paris 1902
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1903J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, Umbria, Florence and Siena, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. R.L. Douglas, 2nd edn, 6 vols, London 1903
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1905S. Reinach, Répertoire de peintres du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance (1250-1580), 4 vols, Paris 1905
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1923P. Schubring, Cassoni: Truhen und Truhenbilder der italienischen Fruhrenaissance: Ein Beitrag zur Profanmalerei im Quattrocento, Leipzig 1923
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1948D.J.A. Ross, 'Allegory and Romance on a Medieval French Marriage Casket', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XI, 1948, pp. 112-42
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1949R. Carità, 'In margine alla mostra fiorentina "Lorenzo il Magnifico e le Arti": 1: Un cassone di Bartolomeo di Giovanni; 2: Sdoppiamento del "Maestro dei Cassoni"', Bollettino d'arte, XXXIV, 1949
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1963G. Carandente, I trionfi nel primo Rinascimento, Turin 1963
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1973C.M. Kauffmann, Victoria and Albert Museum. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, London 1973
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1974E. Callmann, Apollonio di Giovanni, Oxford 1974
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1980A.J. Schutte, '"Trionfo delle donne": Tematiche di rovesciamento dei ruoli nella Firenze rinascimentale', Quaderni storici, XLIV, 1980, pp. 474-96
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1997C. de Carli, I deschi da parto: E la pittura del primo Rinascimento toscano, Turin 1997
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2003Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, 1, London 2003
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2003C. Däubler-Hauschke, Geburt und Memoria: Zum italienischen Bildtyp der deschi da parto, Munich 2003
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2004A.W.B. Randolph, 'Gendering the Period Eye: Deschi da Parto and Renaissance Visual Culture', Art History, XXVII/4, 2004, pp. 538-62
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.