The Master of Marradi is the pseudonym coined in 1963 by Federico Zeri (see Literature) to refer to the anonymous Florentine cassone painter whose biggest group of works can be found in the Badia del Borgo (or Santa Reparata) in Marradi. Previously also called the Master of Apollini Sacrum by William Suida and the Maestro Tondo by Roberto Longhi, the Master of Marradi was likely a pupil of of Domenico Ghirlandaio and his detailed style is characterized by the use of fifteenth-century Florentine clothing on historical figures.

The present panel is the second in a series of four panels recounting the story of Lucretia; the first depicts her rape, this (the second), her suicide, the third depicts her funeral, and the fourth the expulsion of her rapist and the ruling family from Rome. The first three panels remained together until the 1867 sale (see Provenance) and first and third panels now belong to the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (figs. 1, 2) while the final panel was sold at Sotheby's New York, 26 January 2012, lot 11 (fig. 3). Each panel is painted with the same details throughout, such as the same block capital inscriptions identifying key figures and similar gilt punchwork in textiles and on horses' saddles.

Left: Fig. 1. Master of Marradi, The Rape of Lucretia. Robert Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Right: The present lot
Left: Fig. 2. Master of Marradi, The Funeral of Lucretia. Robert Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Right: Fig. 3. Master of Marradi, The Expulsion of King Tarquinius, Superbus and his son Sextus from Rome. Sold Sotheby's New York, 26 January 2012, lot 11.

Though all three panels are equal in height, the two Lehman panels are longer than the present panel and the other Sotheby's panel, suggesting that they either formed a pair of cassoni (wedding chests) or were part of a lettuccio (an elaborate wedding bed).1 Both of these forms of furnishings were popular in aristocratic homes in Florence during the 15th and 16th centuries, and were often made en suite. They were presented to couples at the time of their nuptials (the cassoni generally in pairs) and were highly prized objects which were as much displays of wealth as utilitarian items. The panels were examined together in 2012 and found to fit perfectly in order: for example the woman's dress at the left edge of the present panel is abruptly cropped and in fact can be seen at the right edge of the first Lehman panel.

Lucretia, beautiful and faithful wife of the nobleman Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, was raped by general Sextus Tarquinius, son of the tyrannical Etruscan king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. Rather than live in dishonor, Lucretia stabbed herself in the heart after ensuring that her husband and father would seek her revenge. The Tarquins were thus expelled from Rome during an angry rebellion which led to the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE. Although the classic version of the story was told by Livy in the late first century BCE, Cristell Baskins has argued that the version painted by the Master of Marradi adheres more closely to the version written by Giovanni Sercambi (Lucca 1348 - 1424), which reads as a noble romance. The story was a natural choice for a cassone or lettuccio as Lucretia became identified as one of the exemplars of wifely virtue during the Renaissance (indeed the small dog in the center foreground also refers to her loyalty); in Florence, her connection to the republican form of government must have had a particular resonance.

In this scene, Lucretia stabs herself at far right before a banquet table where her father Lucius Junius Brutus, her husband Collatinus, and their guests are seated. The symmetry and refinement of the banquet and Lucretia's stoic determination downplay the dramatic finality of her action. The Master of Marradi painted a second continuous narrative cassone panel or group of panels of the same subject, now in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (NGI.110).

When this panel and the two Lehman panels were in the collection of famed connoisseur of early Italian paintings, Artaud de Montor, they were attributed to Andrea Orcagna, and later attributions for the group included the school of Benozzo Gozzoli and Jacopo de Sellaio before Everett Fahy definitively gave the set to the Master of Marradi in 1976.2 The fourth panel was not known to these scholars but also had French provenance prior to the 21st century.

1. Paul Schubring and later scholars did not believe the first three panels formed a single cassone, but the panel sold at Sotheby's in 2012 was not yet publicly known, making the possibility of a pair of cassoni or a lettuccio more likely. See Schubring, op. cit., 278; Hennessy, op. cit., 194.

2. See Fahy, op. cit., 183.