Orpheus, Eurydice and Aristaeus

Jacopo da Sellaio's Orpheus, Eurydice, and Aristaeus belongs to the Florentine painter's production of cassone and spalliera panels depicting mythological subjects for wealthy Florentine households. The Orpheus myth, with its themes of love, loss, and the power of music, was among the most poetically resonant of classical subjects for Florentine humanist patrons who identified with the musician-poet figure. Sellaio's version likely depicted the complex narrative involving Aristaeus's pursuit of Eurydice, her death, and Orpheus's descent to Hades, providing multiple dramatic episodes for the continuous narrative format of cassone painting.

Sellaio's narrative style features graceful, Botticellian figures set in a lyrical Tuscan landscape, with the bright, clear coloring and rhythmic composition suited to the decorative function of domestic painting.