The argonauts in Cochlear

The Argonauts in Colchis, painted in 1487 and now at the National Gallery, is among the more unusual subjects in Bartolomeo di Giovanni's known output — a mythological narrative from classical antiquity rather than the religious subjects that dominate his documented work. The Jason and Argonauts story was treated in fifteenth-century Florentine culture through humanist literature and cassone painting — the decorative chests produced as wedding furniture — and di Giovanni's work may belong to this tradition of secular mythological furnishing pieces. The subject's appearance in the National Gallery suggests it was acquired as a representative example of Florentine workshop mythological painting.

Tempera or oil on panel. Mythological cassone-type paintings typically deploy figures in a landscape or maritime setting with the narrative compressed into symbolic moments. Classical costuming was improvised from available models rather than archaeological research.