The Seven Liberal Arts

Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi's Seven Liberal Arts belongs to this Florentine painter's production of cassone panels depicting allegorical and classical subjects for wealthy Florentine patrons. The Seven Liberal Arts — Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy — constituted the classical educational curriculum and were frequently depicted as female personifications in humanist decorative programs. Scheggia, as this minor Florentine master is known, produced cassoni panels that combined the narrative skills of his brother Masaccio's tradition with the decorative requirements of domestic furnishings, the Liberal Arts personifications serving to educate as well as decorate the marriage chest.

Lo Scheggia's decorative style features brightly colored, clearly delineated allegorical figures arranged in a festive composition suited to the celebratory function of domestic painted furniture.