For more on this painting, see Apollonio di Giovanni, Aeneas at Carthage.
James Jackson Jarves (1818–1888), Florence, by 1859
The panel support, of a horizontal wood grain, has been reduced to a depth of 1.5 centimeters, waxed, and cradled. It comprises two planks with a seam 25 centimeters from the top edge, butt-joined, glued, and reinforced by the application of 1.5-centimeter-thick engaged frame moldings on all four sides. A split in the lower panel runs diagonally from approximately 4 centimeters below the seam at the right edge, tapering to the seam near the center of the composition. Both the seam and the split are visible from the front, but neither is open nor has either generated serious paint loss. The paint surface has suffered percussion damage typical of cassone fronts but is in unexpectedly good condition overall, despite a vigorous cleaning in 1951. Gilding of decorative details is well preserved, but the silver of the dolphins pulling Neptune’s chariot and of the armor of some of the sailors has been lost. A broad area to the right of center near the top, including the scene of a lion attacking a hind(?), is restoration. The gray of Aeolus’s cave has been reinforced, and the pink draperies throughout are missing modulating lake glazes. The white of many of the ships’ sails is broken, exposing underlying gesso. Blues and greens, above all in the water and in the foliage of the trees, were extensively restored in an opaque medium with visible diagonal strokes in a treatment of 1995 by Marlene Worhach. The blue of Juno’s robes at the left and of the winds of Aeolus are beautifully preserved, as are the yellows and lake glazes of Venus’s robes at the right.