Cassone panel

Cut from the front of a cassone or wedding trunk, this panel’s distinctively protestant imagery is drawn from a print by Virgil Solis (1514–1562), itself made after a 1529 painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553). Bisected by a tree that is both living and barren, the composition contrasts events from the Old Testament with those from the New Testament. This includes, from left to right: (1) the temptation of Adam and Eve, (2) Moses receiving the tablets, (3) the golden serpent and the Israelites, (4) a central scene where Man is advised by Moses and John the Baptist, (5) the Annunciation to the shepherds, (6) the Crucifixion, (7) the Annunciation, (8) the Lamb of God, and (9) Christ Triumphant, standing upon the devil. Based upon the ideas of reformation thinker Martin Luther (1483–1546), this composition emphasizes a Protestant theology that stressed the replacement of the “age of law” under the Ten Commandments in contrast with the “age of grace” heralded by Christ. Although similar ideas about redemption were a part of Catholic doctrine as well, this emphasis on salvation by grace alone was a distinctly Protestant belief, developed as they cleaved from the Catholic church and developed their own churches and doctrine.