The History of Nastagio degli Onesti is a story about a noble from Ravenna who falls in love with a woman of a higher social class. The story was written by Giovanni Boccaccio and appears in The Decameron. Sandro Botticelli painted a series of panels depicting the story for a wedding chest.
The story:
- Nastagio degli Onesti is a wealthy noble from Ravenna who falls in love with the daughter of Paolo Traversari.
- Nastagio spends his money on parties and banquets to win the girl’s attention, but she rejects him.
- Nastagio tries to forget her, but eventually becomes so consumed by his unrequited love that he attempts suicide.
- Nastagio’s friends advise him to leave Ravenna and move to Classe, a nearby town.
- While walking in a pine forest, Nastagio sees a woman being chased by a knight and his dogs.
- The knight tells Nastagio that he, too, was rejected by a woman he loved, and that he committed suicide as a result.
- The woman was punished in hell for her indifference, and she must be persecuted every Friday for the number of months she ignored the knight.
The art:
- Antonio Pucci commissioned the paintings for the wedding of his son, Giannozzo, to Lucrezia Bini in 1483.
- The paintings were created for the spalliera, or wedding chest, of the couple’s nuptial chamber.
- Specialists believe that Botticelli was involved in the design and that his assistants Bartolomeo di Giovanni and Jacopo del Sellaio also contributed.
