Gyulai Éva - Viga Gyula (szerk.): Történet - muzeológia : Tanulmányok a múzeumi tudományok köréből a 60 éves Veres László tiszteletére (Miskolc, 2010)
GYŰJTEMÉNYEK - IPARMÜVÉSZET-TÖRTÉNET - Vadászi Erzsébet: Reneszánsz bútordíszítő eljárások
and treated walnut would in itself enhance the wooden object and that the beauty inherent in the carefully chosen material should be exploited to the full. The adornment of furniture with painting was more general in Europe, and especially in Italy. Even the greatest masters often accepted commissions to decorate a cassone, as shown by the many examples quoted in Paul Schubring's book, Cassoni. While these chests became quite worn with time, their ornate front panel is treasured by many museum collections. The keyhole can still be made out on a cassone panel from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts exhibited in Nagytétény, indicating that these exquisitely painted pieces had indeed been the front pieces of wooden chests. There were ten workshops specializing in painting chests in Florence in the 15th century. Other important workshops were active in northern and central Italy. The chest bearing a scene from the life of Griselda is the work of an unknown painter trained in Umbria. The scene portrays Griselda. the heroine of one of Boccaccio's novels, presented as the ideal wife, who proves her devotion and unconditional love towards her husband by passing three severe tests. The two outer panels of the Umbrian landscape with riders depict how her husband wooed her and how she was re-accepted. It is not mere chance that bridal chests were decorated with scenes relating to marriage. A bridal chest from Transylvania from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts in the Nagytétény Museum bears the portrait of Tarquinius Collatinus' wife Lucrecia as she plunges the dagger into her heart, the personification of domesticity and loyalty, and of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, the embodiment of motherly virtues. The chest's stool is decorated with a portrait of the bride and groom wearing period costume, the former holding a wreath in her hand, the latter with a sword. The perhaps loveliest painted bridal chest comes from Hunfalu (or Hanusfalu in Upper Hungary). The date of 1692 appears above the figure of four maidens symbolising the four seasons or the four main periods of human life. The carved cartilage ornament ( Knorpelwerk ) motifs foreshadow the Baroque, the next major style. Erzsébet Vadászi 212
