Master Paintings Part II
Master Paintings Part II
Master of Charles of Durazzo
An allegory of wisdom
Lot Closed
January 30, 04:02 PM GMT
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Master of Charles of Durazzo
Florence late 14th Century
An allegory of wisdom
tempera on panel, a cassone front, shaped, set into a cassone, decorated overall with carved, gilded and silver-plated foliage and geometric patterns
cassone overall (height by length by depth): 24 1/2 by 62 by 22 3/4 in.; 62.6 by 157.5 by 57.8 cm.
each painted cartouche: 12 5/8 by 10 3/4 in.; 32.2 by 27.2 cm.
Art market, Germany;
Private European collection.
The allegorical subject depicted in these three shaped tempera panel cartouches that are inserted into the body of this cassone, which is elegantly decorated with foliate motifs, could possibly be identified as an Allegory of Wisdom.
Starting from left, the first scene represents various figures, one of whom wears a laurel crown and converses in the presence ol an elder with an authoritative bearing, In the second scene, the discourse continues in an outdoor setting, while the sequence concludes in another interior, in which the figure with the laurel crown is shown with one other person. The former figure points a finger upward while the latter points down: perhaps in an allusion to Platonism and Aristotelianism. Indeed, the figure with the laurel crown, an attribute of writers and military victors, seems to suggest that the three scenes have a meaning connected with wisdom, excluding of any kind of military significance.