Cassone, scene of a legend

Cassone Scene of a Legend, attributed to Cima's workshop, is a painted marriage chest panel that combined utilitarian furniture with narrative painting. Cassone painting was a significant art form in Renaissance Italy, with major painters contributing designs for these elaborate domestic objects. Oil on canvas — by the sixteenth century the dominant medium for ambitious works — allowed successive glazes of transparent color and freedom to rework the composition.

The horizontal format of the cassone panel suits the narrative, frieze-like composition. The figures are smaller in scale than in altarpiece painting, requiring a more detailed, miniaturist technique that Cima's precise style was well equipped to deliver.