Lorenzo Lotto 1523 - Messer Marsilio Cassotti and his wife Faustina, born Assonica
This double portrait of Marsilio Cassotti and his bride, Faustina Assonica, who married in 1523, was a gift of the groom's father, a wealthy textile merchant from Bergamo.
It depicts the central moment in the marriage rite, when the groom places a ring on the finger of the bride and they become man and wife. Lotto plays on the Latin word for wedlock—coniugium, or con giogo (with a yoke) in Italian—as an impish Cupid lowers a yoke upon the couple's shoulders. Evergreen laurel, symbolizing virtue and eternal love, sprouts from the yoke. Sumptuously dressed, Faustina wears a gold necklace, the vinculum amoris, the chain of love that symbolized conjugal ties. On her pearl necklace is a cameo of her namesake, the Roman empress Faustina the Elder, who was well known in the Renaissance from coins with her image and the inscription "Concordiae" (Harmony), and who was considered to be an exemplary wife.
www.kimbellart.org/artandlove/messer.asp
Madrid, Museo del Prado
high resolution image
Lorenzo Lotto 1523 - Messer Marsilio Cassotti and his wife Faustina, born Assonica
This double portrait of Marsilio Cassotti and his bride, Faustina Assonica, who married in 1523, was a gift of the groom's father, a wealthy textile merchant from Bergamo.
It depicts the central moment in the marriage rite, when the groom places a ring on the finger of the bride and they become man and wife. Lotto plays on the Latin word for wedlock—coniugium, or con giogo (with a yoke) in Italian—as an impish Cupid lowers a yoke upon the couple's shoulders. Evergreen laurel, symbolizing virtue and eternal love, sprouts from the yoke. Sumptuously dressed, Faustina wears a gold necklace, the vinculum amoris, the chain of love that symbolized conjugal ties. On her pearl necklace is a cameo of her namesake, the Roman empress Faustina the Elder, who was well known in the Renaissance from coins with her image and the inscription "Concordiae" (Harmony), and who was considered to be an exemplary wife.
www.kimbellart.org/artandlove/messer.asp
Madrid, Museo del Prado
high resolution image