The Combat of Love and Chastity
by GHERARDO DI GIOVANNI DEL FORA, Tempera on panel, 43 x 35 cm
The painting seems to have been part of a series illustrating the ‘Triumphs’ by the poet Petrarch (1304-1374). Love’s arrows break against Chastity’s shield; she waves the chain with which he will be bound. A companion painting in Turin shows Love bound in Chastity’s triumphal chariot.
Other paintings in the series also survive. They were probably made for a piece of Florentine furniture towards the end of the 15th century.