The book discusses some thirty Italian Renaissance domestic paintings from the Viennese collection of Count Karol Lanckoroñski (1848-1933), which since 1994 have belonged to the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków. The majority of them depict mythological subjects and scenes from Greek and Roman history; they once served as decorations on the walls of nuptial chambers (spalliere) or the fronts of painted wedding chests, usually referred to as cassoni. The domestic paintings amassed by Lanckoroñski in the last quarter of the 19th century in an exemplary way reflect the Renaissance fascination with classical literature, archaeology, and the classical tradition in the visual arts. Above all the book provides an explorative study of the subject matter of the paintings in the context of weddings, although stylistic analysis is also discussed.
Introduction and Acknowledgements
Part I: The Collector and the Artistic Genre
1. Karol Lanckoroñski and his Art Collection
2. Renaissance Weddings and the Visual Arts
Part II: The Power of Narrative. Paintings from Domestic Settings and their Meaning
3. Narcissus, Pyramus and Thisbe, and a Court of Love
4. The Awakening of Paris and Helen of Troy
5. Ulysses, Penelope and the Charm of the Sirens' Song
6. Psyche, Cupid and Botticelli's "Primavera
7. Orpheus and Eurydice, or, the Power of Music and Everlasting Love
8. Battles and Triumphs: the Romans and the Gauls, Scipio Africanus and the Invincible Perseus
9. Shooting at Father's Corpse and other exempla iustitiae
10. Sages Crowned...and Derided, or, the Stories of Aristotle and Virgil
11. A Rape with a Happy Ending: Magnaminity and Nuptials
Conclusions
Ewa Wilkoj, Cassoni Panel Paintings - Conservation Notes
Appendix
Bibliography
Tradizione classica e educazione artistica nell’età dei lumi e oltre
Da modella a pittrice nella parigi fin-de-siècle
Edgardo Zauli Sajani da Forlì a Roma
