Novella Boccaccio “Nastagio degli Onesti” third episode by Sandro Botticelli

Novella Boccaccio Nastagio degli Onesti third episode by Sandro Botticelli

Nastajo invited his friends and the Traversari family with their arrogant daughter to the place where he had witnessed the “torment of a cruel woman”

The artist creates a beautiful composition, animated by bright color spots. He carefully transmits the everyday realities of the time. The action is presented at the climax, when the festive atmosphere of the feast was sharply disturbed by the appearance of a naked girl tortured by dogs, and the rider who overtook her with a raised sword.

Nastajo’s guests react to the situation with poses and gestures expressing horror, amazement, compassion. Theatrical character of the construction is emphasized by the figure of Nastajo: turning to his guests, with the eloquent gesture of widely divorced hands, he explains the essence of the terrible vision. Tracing an episode of the novella in the language of cassoni painting, the master gives him dramatic expressiveness.

The composition of the fourth episode, which is stored in the collection Watney in London, contains the ending of the novel, where a frightened girl from the house of Traversari agreed to marry Nastagio.

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