The Adventures of Ulysses
Apollonio di Giovanni·1435–45
Historical Context
This cassone panel by Apollonio di Giovanni depicts the Adventures of Ulysses, translating Homer's Odyssey into the visual language of Florentine narrative painting. Apollonio's workshop was the most prolific producer of painted cassoni in mid-15th-century Florence, and classical subjects served both decorative and educational purposes in patrician households. The Ulysses narrative, with its adventures on land and sea, provided rich material for the continuous narrative format of cassone painting.
Technical Analysis
The tempera-on-panel technique employs the bright, flat colors and decorative gold accents characteristic of cassone painting. The continuous narrative composition unfolds episodes from Ulysses' journey across the panel, with landscape and architectural elements dividing the sequences.
Provenance
William Graham (d. 1885), Grosvenor Place, London, by 1875 [lent to London 1875]; sold Christie’s, London, April 8, 1886, no. 172, as “The labours of Ulysses: from a Cassone,” to Martin Colnaghi, acting on behalf of Francis George Baring, for 29 gns.; Francis George Baring, second Earl of Northbrook, from 1886 to at least 1894 [The date 1894 is provided by two labels on the back of the panel]. Robert Langston Douglas, London; sold by Langton Douglas to Julius Böhler, Munich [confirmed by a label on the back of the panel and a letter of April 27, 1987 from Julius Böhler in Margherita Andreotti in curatorial file]; sold by Böhler to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, 1911 [bill of sale in Ryerson papers, Art Institute Archives]; on loan to the Art Institute from 1911; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.
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