Panel from a Cassone: The Race of the Palio in the Streets of Florence1418 · Study 1916.801

Context from the museum

A cassone was a wooden chest used for the storage of clothing, an essential piece of furniture in Italian homes during the Renaissance and often produced in matched sets. The cassone was often made on the occasion of a marriage and elaborately decorated with painted scenes and gilded moldings. This panel comes from such a painted cassone. It was not uncommon for the painted decoration to represent a memorable event at the time of the marriage. This scene depicts the end of the Palio, a horse race held in the streets of Florence on the Feast of John the Baptist (June 24). The panel from the other side of the cassone is now preserved in the Bargello Museum in Florence and shows the procession of the Palii banners before the race. The cassone commemorates a wedding between members of the Fini and Aldobrandini families in 1418.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected unframed measurement for Panel from a Cassone: The Race of the Palio in the Streets of Florence is 139.5 cm wide and 42.1 cm high, equivalent to approximately 54.9 × 16.6 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 3.31:1. The rectangular bounding area is 0.59 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 46.5% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 80.3 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Panel from a Cassone: The Race of the Palio in the Streets of Florence in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, tempera and gold on wood, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 139.5 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?