The banquet in the forest (The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti - third episode)

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The banquet in the forest (The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti - third episode): Sandro Botticelli

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Sandro Botticelli Various Paintings - The banquet in the forest (The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti - third episode)

Keywords: banquet, forest, Story, Nastagio, degli, Onesti, episode

Work Overview: The banquet in the forest (The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti - third episode)
Sandro Botticelli
c. 1483
Tempera on panel
84 x 142 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Nastagio degli Onesti is the protagonist in one of the one hundred short stories contained in The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. The eighth story of the fifth day, it tells of the unrequited love of the nobleman Nastagio for a girl who will eventually be induced to accept Nastagio's affection by the appearance of a rejected lover and her beloved.

Sandro Botticelli made a series of four panels that illustrate many episodes of the story Boccaccio, thought to have been commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1483 as a gift to Giannozzo Pucci at her marriage to Lucrezia Bini of that year. Originally stored in Palace Pucci, in the second half of the nineteenth century they were dispersed: three are now in the Prado, and only one, the last, has returned to its original location after being, among other things, in the Collection Watney of Charlbury at London.

These panels (P02838, P02839, P02840), along with a fourth one in a private collection, illustrate the “Story of Nastagio degl Onesti”, the eighth novel of the fifth day of Boccaccio´s Decameron. This is the story of Nastagio, a young man from Ravenna who was rejected by the daughter of Paolo Traversari and abandoned the city to settle on its outskirts. The third panel shows the guests´ reaction to the events, and how Nastagio´s beloved uses a maid to indicate that she is willing to marry him. The fourth panel depicts the wedding banquet. These paintings were commissioned in 1483 by Antonio Pucci for the marriage of his son, Giannozzo, with Lucrezia Bini. The coats of arms of both families flank those of the Medici on the third panel. Specialists see Botticelli´s hand in the overall design and in certain figures. They also detect the participation of his assistants, Bartolomeo di Giovanni and Jacopo del Sellaio.

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It would not be surprising if Botticelli’s series of four paintings called The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti reminds you more of a surrealistic nightmare than series of Renaissance paintings. But once we find out what the paintings represent and the context in which they were painted, they begin to make more sense, allowing our reaction to change from that of horror to admiration for Botticelli’s artistic genius.

Completed in 1483, the paintings were commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent to mark the occasion of the wedding of his godson. Although much of the art of Renaissance Italy revolved around Christian and classical themes, at times artists did paint scenes from contemporary literature for their wealthy patrons. Such was the case with The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti. The paintings depict four scenes from a contemporary novella called The Decameron, written by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio.

The story begins as Nastagio is walking through the forest in despair because the woman whom he wishes to marry has refused him. During his walk, he witnesses a knight leading his hounds in the chase of a naked woman! The first panel, entitled The Encounter with the Damned in the Pine Forest, shows Nastagio attempting to defend the woman with a tree branch as one of the hounds leaps at her. The knight, on horseback, brandishes his sword as he arrives at the scene.

Powerless to help the woman, Nastagio watches in horror as the knight captures the woman, tears out her heart and her entrails and feeds them to his dogs! The knight then begins the same chase of the same woman again. Nastagio learns that the woman had refused to marry the knight and that this series of events will take place eternally as a punishment for both of them -- the knight’s suicide and the woman’s rejection. The second panel entitled The Infernal Hunt shows Nastagio recoiling with revulsion as he watches the knight assail the woman with his sword. In the background, we see the chase taking place again.

Clever as he is, Nastagio uses what he has seen to his advantage. He invites a group of guests, including the lady who has rejected him and her family, to the forest to view the perpetual chase and its horrific results. Once she understands the possible consequences of her own actions, the lady agrees to marry Nastagio! In the third panel, entitled The Banquet in the Pine Forest, we see the guests seated at the banquet tables as Nastagio presents the dreadful scene. The beloved lady is at the head table, dressed in white. In the background, a servant approaches Nastagio with a message from the lady saying that she will marry him.

The fourth panel, entitled The Wedding Banquet, shows the splendid wedding celebration set under a magnificent archway. The guests are seated at tables; Nastagio and his lady sit at the head table. The coats of arms in the painting are of the Pucci and Binni families, an allusion to their own wedding on which occasion the paintings were commissioned.

The first three panels have resided in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain since 1941. The fourth panel was believed to be part of a private collection in the U.S. until recently. As it turned out, the fourth panel was still in the hands of a descendent of the Pucci family! As a result of brilliant negotiations by Italian curators, all four panels were brought together and exhibited at the Palazzo Strozzi in 2004 along with other lesser known works of Botticelli.

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After performing his grisly deed the knight remains to view the horror he has committed. The girl lays motionless on the soft grass while the dogs sulk off to their private corners of the forest to enjoy their offal treats. Calm takes hold for just a moment. Then suddenly the girl lifts herself from the ground, her physical form restored. Eyes wide she takes in her surroundings and then lets out a shrill scream as she sees the dogs racing for her, their mouths longing for the blood that has been magically cleaned from their snouts. She flees, to be forever pursued by beasts.

“Eureka! I’ve got it!” you exclaim, inspired by the noble knight and his harlot. The next few days are a blur as you put your plan in motion. Invitations, decorations, menus, it must all be perfect if your final plot to win your beloved’s favor is to prove successful! A week passes and your friends, family, and most importantly your love gather in the clearing for a glorious feast. She is so angelic that even the resentful look in her eyes as she catches your long admiring gazes can not detract from her perfection!

Just as the final course is served the woman’s screams fill the air. The startled guests put down their forks and watch as the ghastly entertainment staged before them unfolds. The knight retells his fateful tale to his new audience before commencing with his murderous rite. As he and the girl run off to renew their chase your love rushes to you, tears streaming down her face, and professes that she does not want to meet such a fate and will receive your favors. You are to be married!

Nastagio is very clever to have won his love but is not the only clever man involved in this painting. At this point in his career Botticelli had begun to receive so many commissions he could barely keep up with them. So when he was asked to do this by Antonio Pucci as a wedding gift for Pucci’s son (Nastagio’s is an inspiring story of true love and we should all aspire to emulate it!) he may have enlisted the help of “ghost painters” Bartolomeo di Giovanni and Jacopo del Sellaio. To personalize the loving tale for his patron, Botticelli also included the father of the groom amongst the wedding guests and changed the location of the feast from Ravenna to Florence to honor the family.

What a great story, truly one to proudly pass on through the generations as a shining example of love conquering all! Or you know, a shining example of how you can threaten someone with eternal damnation if they won’t agree to do what you say. The Pucci’s weren’t the only ones who thought this story served as a good example for married couples. Versions of this scene were actually somewhat common on cassoni. Those are Italian wedding trunks. You know, the things people used to fill with new clothing items etc. for the virgin bride to be carried with her and placed at the foot of her bed as a symbol of her immovable devotion to her husband? Usually these trunks were decorated with images of the Virgin Mary or symbols of fertility to bless the union.

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The banquet in the forest (The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti - third episode)

Sandro Botticelli

Work Overview