`Tournament` panels in the National Gallery

3\4LINCTON
AAACAZINE
JAN9F
Shorter Notices
Thesubjectof Domenico
Moronds
' Tournament'
panelsin theJVational
Gallery,
London
tsY'IOM HENRY
rrvo panels in the National Gallery, London (Figs.22 and 23),
recently restored to view with the re-opening of the Lower Floor
Collection, can be shown to represent the episode from ancient
Roman history of the rape of the Sabine women. Both have
previously been cataiogued as representing a scene at a tournament. 1 They are painted, probably in oil, on two horizontal
planks of spruce and there is some evidence that they were
originally joined.
The panels were bought by the National Gallery in 1886
fromJ.P. Richter, who had acquired them in Venice from the
celebrated dealer Michelangelo Guggenheim. They were then
'nondescriot
described as the work of a
Venetian' and it was
Richter who subsequently proposed an attribution to Domenico
Morone (c.1442-after l51B),'? a Veronese artist whose corpus
has been built up around a small number of signed and documented panels, canvases and {iescoes.3 This attribution has
occasionally been challenged, but is now generally accepted.*
The most telling comparison is with Morone's canvas of the
Expulsion of the Bonacol.riin 1328 (Museo del Palazzo Ducale,
Mantua) which is signed and dated 1494.' The drawing of
horses and of mannequin-like figures in active poses, together
with the careful observation of shadow and detail, are surely
sufficient to confirm the attribution. This comparison also rein{brces the date - ofc.1490 - first advanced by Richter and subsequently maintained by Martin Davies on the basis of costume
notes provided by S.M. Pearce.6
The principal sources for the story of the rape of the Sabine
women are Plutarch's Liues and Livy's Historie.r,both of which
were published in Italian translation in the late fifteenth century.7 Morone seems to have based his depiction on Plutarch,
' N G 1 2 1 1 a n d 1 2 1 2 ;s e c M . D A V r E N
s :a t i o n a l G a l l e r y t C a t a l o gTuhees E
: arlierltalian
S c h o a l s , 2 ncdd . , L o n d o n [ 9 6 1 1 , p p . 3 8 1 - 8 2 .
'?The Guggcnheim attribution is recorded in a note in the National Gallery
archive of an oral communication fromJ.P. Richter. Richter's own proposal is
first mentioned in a letter of 7th !-ebruary 1885 from Richter to Giovanni
im
Morelli, printed in r. and c. RrcHrER, eds.'.ItalienischeMalerei der Renaissance
BriefwechseL
uon Gioranni Morelli und Jean Paul Richler 1876-1891,Baden-Baden
!9601,p.371.
3p. wrrrrowBn: 'Studien zur Geschichte der Malerci in Verona: Domenico
II f192al, pp.269-89; n. entrzoNl:
Morone', Jahrbuch.fiir Kunstwissenschaft,
in e.e. enucnou, ed'.Maestri
Domenico
Morone,Florence!956]; H.J.EBERHARDT,
Y erona I I 974], pp.9 1- I 00.
dellaPittura Veronese,
a fhe panels have also been attributed to Carpaccio; this has been rejectcd by
London Il96ll,
oevrns,op.rzl.at note I above, p.3Bl, and by;. t turs: Carpaccia,
p.260. Richter's attribution has also been upheld by: r. scuunnrNc'.Cassoni,
Friihrenaissance,
Leipzig !9231, pp.371,-72
Truhenund TruhenbilderderitaLienisthen
and wrrmownn,lac.cit. at note 3 above, p.287 (neither of which is cited by
ap.cit.^r note 3 above, p.42 and fi9s.66, 67,
Davies) as well as by BRENZoNT,
perhaps using Battista Alessandro Giaconello's translation which
was published in Aquila in 1482.8 Rome, newly founded, was in
its infancy and circular walls had been built, encompassing the
site chosen for the city. Morone shows these walls, and the
barren area they enclosed, in the background ofboth panels.s
He also includes a building under construction to suggest the
early development of the city. Four months after the founding
of Rome, a lack of women was threatening the future of the
Romans. Romulus resolved to remedy this situation by announcing the discovery of a buried deity and staging games to
celebrate this event. Neighbouring peoples were invited, and
the games were to provide the opportunity for carrying off sufficient young women to give the Romans brides, and thus
children.to
Plutarch specifies that the deity was discovered in the Circus
Maximus, and that it was normally hidden except during
'equesLri
equestrian games (trarrslated by Giaconello as
fg)iochi') .
He also digressesto discuss the nature of the deity, who was
'a
God of
called Consus because- Plutarch proposed - he was
'consuls',
counsel (Ibr . . . they call their chief magistrates
that is
to say, counsellors) . . .'.
Morone reinterprets this description in a fifteenth-century
idiom in the first of his two panels (Fig.22). The equestrian
games have become a contemporary joust, to which classical
authenticity has been lent by the inclusion of a smail banner
hanging from a trumpet and inscribed S.P.q.[R]. Beyond the
games three men dressed as civic elders are seen at what Giaconello
translated as'unl altar de uno dio . . . el quale idio consonominarono
cheluiJusseloro consegliero'.
Behind them Romulus
oaerdal con.siglio
is enthroned, surrounded by young Roman men - just as described
by Plutarch.ll The Roman founding father is dressed all'antica
in a long toga, and is crowned and holds a sceptre; his retinue
are dressedin contemporary short cloaks. On the canopy above
Romulus's throne is a flag which shows an eagle, presumably
alluding to the imperial history o{'Rome. To either side, on a
decorated platform and beneath a temporary awning, are the
Sabine women (also in fifteenth-century dress) who have come
to watch the spectacle.
The signal for the Rape to begin was when Romulus stood up
and gathered his cloak around him. Morone shows this, or an
'NuovistudisuDomenico
EBERHARDT,
loc.cit.atnote3above,pp.94,99,andidem:
Libri
Liberale',
in
cesrrcr-roNr
and s. MARINELLI,
Morone, Girolamo dai
e
o.
eds.: Za Miniatura Veronese
del Rinascimento,
exh.cat., Museo di Castelvecchio,
V e r o n a[ 1 9 8 6 ] p
, p.i I l-12.
5Secr. cHausrns and
eds.: ,Splendours
of the Gonzaga,exh.cat.,
;. MARTTNEAU,
V i c t o r i a a n d A l b e r t M u s e u m ,L o n d o n [ 1 9 8 1 ] ,p p . l 0 3 - 0 4 ,c a t . n o . 2 .
6oavros,0p.cit.at notc I above, pp.38l-82. A date olc.l490 was also proposed
by scHuenrNc,lp-cit. atLote+ above,p.372.
iprurancs: Virarumillustrium
( t r a n s .b y
I I :, 1 4 - 1 9 ; r l v ' . A b U r b eC o n d i t a , I : 9 - 1 3
L. BUoNAccoRSr,
Decadi,Ycnicc [478]).
sVitede Plutarchotraducte
de Latino in uulgare. .. trans. B.A. cr.rcoNu-lo, Aquila,
Adam de Rotuuil [1482] (unpaginated).
sruurancu, II:11. See the parallel text and English translation in the Loeb
e d i t i o nb y e . e n n n r N Z
: l z e sL, o n d o n [ 1 9 1 4 ] ,I , p p . 1l 8 - 1 9 .
r 0 r L U r a n c n ,I l : 1 4 , e d . c i ta. b o v e ,p p . 1 2 6 - 2 9 .
1'Ibid.; and crACoNELLo,0p.cit.ar note B above: 'lui sedeaa
uestitodepurpuraco'li
altri brincibali'.
2t
SHORTER
22. The rapeof thesabines( beJorethesignal), by Domenico Morone. c. I 490.
Probably oil on spruce,45 by 49 cm. (National Gallery, London).
NOTICES
( afterthesignal
23. Therapea-fthesabines
) , by DomenicoMorone.c.1490.
Probablyoil on spruce,45 by 49cm. (NationalGallery,London).
immediately subsequent, moment in his second panel (Fig.23).
Romulus's entourage of young men have shed their gay cloaks
(seen in two piles to either side of him) and are in the act of
taking the women by force.l2 Romulus is also shown with a
Sabine woman at his side, presumably Hersilia who, according
to some authorities available to Plutarch, was married to Romulus
after the Rape.l3 The action in the foreground is harder to
interpret. Some figures seem to be rushing to join the action
(probably Romans hoping to find themselves wives) while a
white-haired commander on horseback looks on, perhaps at
Romulus who may be explaining to a Sabine leader how he
hoped the ensuing marriages would result in a long-term alliance
between the two nations.ra On the left a knight, with his sword
drawn, charges away from the action, perhaps in pursuit of the
rest of the Sabines who were said to have fled when the trap was
sprung.
In order to consider whether there was ever a third episode in
the narrative (perhaps showing the intervention of the Sabine
women to make peace between the Romans and the Sabines,
Plutarch II:19) the original form and function of the panels
must be considered. Richter and all subsequent commentators
have concluded that the panels were originally part of a cassone
or wedding chest.r5 The correct identification of the subject
only serves to increase this probability, as the Rape of the
Sabine Women was commonly the subject for cassonisymbolising,
as it did, the unification of two peoples through marriage and
the civilising influence of women.t6 Both panels, which each
measure 45 by 49 cm., are painted up to the edges all round and
it is fairly obvious that they have been cut along their side
edges.While one cannot state categorically how much has been
lost, Iogical extension of the decorative elements (illusionistic
plaques, ribbons, vessels and hanging beads) suggest original
overall dimensions of 45 by somewhere between 105 and 120 cm.
This would be quite comparable with Liberale da Verona's
contemporary casslne panel of Dido's suicide in the National
Gallery, London which measures42.5 by 123.2 cm.17 It may be
that the heraldry of two families were depicted to either side of
these two panels, with the new stemmaof the bridal couple in the
middle; if so these specific references might have been excised at
a later date when the cassonewas cut down (possibly for the
purposes of selling individual panels) .
Vasari, who considered Domenico Morone second only to
Liberale amongst his Veronese contemporaries, noted that there
were many of his pictures in Verona'nelle case di priuati'.rB
Richter believed that Guggenheim had bought these panels from
the collection of a member of the Monga family in Verona from
which he himself bought other works; the collection of a 'sgr
Monga' is also described (although these panels are not referred
to) by Otto Miindler. ls It is to be hoped that further research
might reveal the occasion for which this intricate and appealing
narrative casslnewas originally painted.
'2RrcHrnR,in his lengthy description ofthese two panels as depicting'Festive
Episodes' (EpisodenderselbenFutlichkeit), identifies this moment as 'men and
women dancing' (lp.cit.at note 2 above,pp.373-76).
'3pr-uraRcu,II:14 (ed.cit.at note 9 above,pp. I 30-3I
).
talbid., pp.l29-29 (crecoxnr,r-o, op.(it. at note B above: '. . . in speranlache la
qfua]si unoprincipiodelongereamicitia8 parentelaco'loro').
iniuriafacta alli SabiniJusse
r5scaunnINc,0p-cit.at note 4 above, p.371, expressedthe opinion that they were
either side panels or separatelyinset into a cdsszne.
The technical evidencein
fact suggeststhat they were painted on the same panel and were originally a
continuous plank (as is also suggestedby the decorative elements that run
acrossthe surface of both panels). X-radiographs might confirm whether the
grain ofthe wood is continuousbetweenthe panels.
iurc"u"orNc, 0p.cit.ar note 4 above, p.287 no.29} and p.308, no.377 are both
,
fifteenth-centuryexamplesofthe Rape ofthe Sabinesas the principal panel ofa
cassonerTIfa third narrative scene had been included this would imply a length of
between 160 and 180 cm. which would be unusually long for a cassone,
the
majority of which are lessthan 130 cm. long. For Liberale da Verona's panel
(NG 1336),seeDAVTEs)
0p.cit.atnote I above,pp.283-84.
rBG.vasARr: Le Vite de piil eccellenti
pittori, scultoried architettori,ed. o. urr,annsr,
F l o r e n c e[ 1 8 7 8 - 8 1 ]v, o l . V , p . 3 0 8 .
reRrcurnn,op.tit.at note 2 above, pp.372, 389(?), 393.Jaynie Anderson kindly
pointed me to the 'The Travel Diaries of Otto Miindler 1855-1856', ed.
B. FREDERTcKsEN
and c. rowr, The WalpoleSociet2,L\ ll915l, pp.137 -38,172.