Dissertation

My dissertation, “Bridal Education and Virtuous Marriage: Reading Boccaccio through the Cassone Istoriato in Quattrocento Florence,” examines the works of Giovanni Boccaccio in the context of the fifteenth-century Florentine cassone istoriato and its role in the moral education of brides. These decorated marital chests were commissioned in pairs by a father or prospective husband in anticipation of a wedding. The cassoni served both practical and didactic purposes. They stored the material contents of a bride’s dowry and accompanied her on the domumductio, the ceremonial procession from her paternal home to her new marital household. In Quattrocento Florence, cassoni are notable for their external panels, which are decorated with narrative paintings. The didactic purpose of the cassone istoriato is conveyed through these narratives; exemplary figures and cautionary tales guide elite women as they transition from virgins to wives, from daughters to household managers.             

This project asks how and to what end Boccaccio’s works were adapted to the cassone istoriato format. Boccaccio’s texts reveal the patriarchal expectations imposed on young women of the Florentine elite, expectations that are further reinforced in the cassoni. Where the page values irony and social critique, the panel favors tradition, obligation, and regulation of behavior. The stories are adapted to reflect a bride’s role within her husband’s household, teaching her about the social and financial repercussions of her conduct. Cassoni depicting violent scenes either sanitize them or deploy rape and assault as instructional tools. These lessons rely on the visual language of fear and shame. The erotic is likewise transformed. Where Boccaccian texts play with female desire—its danger, its humor, and its pleasure—the cassone reduces it to its procreative function.            

This dissertation is divided into three chapters, each dedicated to a distinct wifely virtue. Chapter 1 examines the theme of marital chastity through the figures of Penelope and Lucretia in Petrarch’s Trionfo della Pudicizia, Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris, Corbaccio, and Decameron (II.9, X.9). Chapter 2 explores the virtues of erotic love and the benign influence of Venus, drawing on Boccaccio’s Genealogia deorum gentilium, Teseida, Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta, Decameron (II.7, V.1) and Ninfale Fiesolano. Chapter 3 considers the virtue of uxorial obedience in relation to Decameron (V.8, X.10), in the context of the enduring myth of the Rape of the Sabines.  

Areas of Research

Italian Trecento and Quattrocento literature

Material culture of the 15th century

Domestic and profane art of the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance

Gender studies

Satire, humor, and social critique in Boccaccio

Pandemic studies in Italian literature

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