Reviews
Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence: The Courtauld Wedding Chests by Caroline Campbell
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
5.0
This book accompanied an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery in London between 12 February and 17 May 2009. This is the kind of exhibition I would love to see in person.
The photographs and commentary are almost as good as being there. Almost. There's a reminder that marriage in fifteenth-century Florence was about family alliances, rather than love. That the chests, generally known as cassoni, are memorials of family history and identity.
The chests at the heart of this exhibition are apparently the only pair of wedding chests to survive with their original painted backboard. These chests were ordered by Lorenzo Morelli when he married Vaggia Nerli in 1472.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The photographs and commentary are almost as good as being there. Almost. There's a reminder that marriage in fifteenth-century Florence was about family alliances, rather than love. That the chests, generally known as cassoni, are memorials of family history and identity.
The chests at the heart of this exhibition are apparently the only pair of wedding chests to survive with their original painted backboard. These chests were ordered by Lorenzo Morelli when he married Vaggia Nerli in 1472.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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