Performing Marriage Rituals: The Iconography of North Italian Cassoni 1480-1520

This essay examines the role played by Northern cassoni, or wedding chest, produced between the 1480s and 1520s in the ritual celebrations of dynastic weddings that cemented the alliances between the Este family in Ferrara and the rulers of neighbouring states. The detailed account of Sabadino degli Arienti of the nuptial celebrations for Lucrezia d'Este and the son of the ruler of Bologna Annibale Bentivoglio in 1487 sheds light on the ritualistic aspects of these celebrations. These included triumphal arches that personified the cardinal virtues and concluded with a pantomime in which the nymph Lucretia, the protagonist and bride's alter-ego, ended up choosing marital love over lust and chastity. It is argued that rather than elicit sentiments of wifely submission in the bride, the tales of heroines that possessed inherently manly virtues depicted on the cassoni aimed at empowering the young elite brides and prepared them to acquire the agency required to exercise political power in their husband's absence.