Focus on this artwork and discuss the A lesson for the newlyweds.
Piero's interest in the story of Procris might have been occasioned by one of the first Italian plays based on a mythological subject, Niccolò da Correggio's Cefalo, which had its premiere at a wedding feast in the Castello Estense (21 January 1487) and was printed in Venice in 1507. The story is supposed to have been adapted from Plautus rather than Ovid's Metamorphoses and, in contrast to earlier treatments of the story, it ends happily. If so, the painting should be read as a warning to the newlyweds against the dangers of jealousy which brought about the death of Procris.The association with the theme of marriage is reinforced by the painting's unusual dimensions which suggest it was intended for the front of a cassone, or bridal chest. Gould suggests that although it has often been described as a cassone front, as most Florentine paintings of similar dimensions are, it is possible that it served a different purpose, and may have been designed to be set in wainscoting. Fermor also finds it plausible that the painting hung in the marital chamber.The upper part of the painting bears the artist's fingerprints. On the back of the panel are a card and a seal with the stemma of the Guicciardini (which may have been a later addition). There is also a drawing interpreted as the frame of a pilaster.
pilaster Ovid wainscoting cassone Niccolò da Correggio Italian Castello Estense Procris Venice Guicciardini Plautus Metamorphoses