Love and Marriage in Renaissance Italy

Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso b. Fruit Bowl, 16th century. Francesco di Giorgio Martini b. Bernardo di Stefano Roselli? During the Renaissance, a period spanning from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, elaborately decorated wooden wedding chests known as cassoni cassone: Throughout the marriage, the chests continued to be used as storage and seating and were among the most prestigious furnishings in the home.

In Renaissance Italy, arranged marriages were the norm. They were regarded as an alliance between two families who were usually of similar economic, social, and political standing. Wives were often younger than their husbands by a decade or more. Cassoni tell stories and teach edifying lessons relevant to marriage. Heroic epics by ancient Roman and Greek authors, such as Ovid and Homer, are popular sources for the stories, as are the fourteenth-century poetic writings of Boccaccio, Dante, and Petrarch.

Upper-Level Galleries

The lavish wedding celebrations of the period occasioned the giving of extravagant gifts, such as maiolica decorated with narratives or portraits, rare Venetian glassware, rings including one of the earliest known diamond wedding rings and other jewelry, delicate gilded boxes, and vividly painted cassoni , or bridal chests that would be filled with costly linens and clothing.

Marked with heraldic devices, childbirth trays and bowls were prized possessions in many households and handed down from generation to generation. The section Profane Love will focus on erotic, at times salacious, imagery treated in drawings, prints, and other objects created by some of the most celebrated artists of the time, including Parmigianino and Giulio Romano. Many of these works exhibit a witty, burlesque sensibility that satirizes more intellectually elevated modes of art and literature.

Classical mythology, especially the loves of the gods as recounted by Ovid and other ancient poets, provided a convenient pretext for the portrayal of erotic imagery. The world of the courtesan and associated luxury items will also be explored in the exhibition.

Famed for their beauty, cultural accomplishments, and wit, courtesans were especially prevalent in Rome and Venice. From Cassone to Poesia: Paintings of Love and Marriage will shift the focus to nuptial portraits and paintings on themes of love that decorated bedchambers and private quarters. Marriage contracts spelled out these details.

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Arranged marriages also occurred among peasant families, especially when power or property was at stake. In general, though, members of the lower classes mingled fairly freely, and courtship arose out of the contacts of daily life. Parents could veto their children's choices, but they rarely did so. Although society generally frowned on sex before marriage, many women of the lower classes were pregnant at the time of their weddings.

Communities tolerated sexual contact between couples if they seriously intended to marry—and if they were well matched. Local youth groups discouraged what they viewed as mismatches, such as unions between people of very different ages or between locals and outsiders. Courtship led to betrothal, which until the late s was an important step in the process of getting married. Betrothal bound a couple in a relationship that could only be broken if both parties agreed.

Couples often pledged themselves to each other in a formal ceremony, which might take place in front of a priest at the church door. The legal difference between betrothal and marriage was not entirely clear, and church lawyers wrestled with cases in which one party wished to break a betrothal. In some cases, women claimed that men had promised to marry them and then had sex with them, and authorities had to decide whether the couple was legally married. Eventually both Protestants and Catholics tried to do away with formal betrothals, focusing instead on the public exchange of vows at the wedding.

The legal requirements for a marriage were a confusing mix of church law, local rules, and custom until the mids. After that time, the church became a legal part of the marriage ceremony. Most Protestant governments passed laws requiring weddings to take place in churches with ministers, and Catholics defined legal marriages as those in which the couple exchanged vows before a priest and other witnesses. Other wedding customs, however, remained unchanged. Couples typically exchanged vows and signed a marriage contract, if there was one.

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Marriage celebrations often included processions to or from the church, traditional foods, music, and dancing. After marriage, couples were expected to abandon the romantic behaviors of courtship. The relationship between a husband and wife focused on companionship, rather than passion. Most people saw sexual relations in marriage as a "debt" that the partners owed to each other. Some people even brought their spouses before church authorities to complain that they were not paying this debt.

However, religious writers warned that an excess of sex within marriage was sinful. Renaissance society gave husbands authority over their wives. Married women generally could not act for themselves in law or commerce. However, women did have some rights in marriage. Although husbands controlled their wives' property, they also had to support, protect, and provide for their wives. Moreover, many husbands admired their wives and secretly relied on their judgment.

In some cases, a husband's will left considerable power in the hands of his widow. Divorce was not a real option for most couples, even where it was technically legal.