Those excesses of vivacity, those extravagances of invention, those juvenile graces which were a weakness in mural painting, were admirably in place in the decoration of chests and wainscots. The greater artists gladly accepted this little work, and some painters painted exclusively trousseau chests (_cassoni_) for young brides—an enviable occupation, for surely these fair young creatures had to be personally consulted. The subjects glorify love, magnify valor, celebrate the festal life of the day, its pageants, feasts, and dances. Of professional _cassoni_ painters Francesco Pesellino[44] (1422–1457) is the most famous. He is bewitching in variety and sensitiveness of invention, in refinement of story telling, and in glamour of color. Two admirable _cassone_ fronts by him are owned by Mrs. John L. Gardner, Figure 119. They represent the six triumphs described by Petrarch in so many _Canzoni_. Love, Chastity, Death, Time, Fame, and Eternity are figured forth much as these themes were embodied in contemporary pageants, about the year 1450. The subjects were favorites for _cassoni_ less because of their grave moral import than because Petrarch was Love’s accredited Poet Laureate. [Illustration: FIG. 119. Francesco Pesellino. Cassone Front. Triumphs of Love, Chastity, and Death.—_Mrs. John L. Gardner, Boston._ ] We have in the New York Historical Society the superb salver, Figure 119a, which was prepared against the birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Appropriately it shows knights acclaiming fame. The date is 1448, the painter of the school of Domenico Veneziano. We often see the Queen of Sheba reverently approaching Solomon. It is the admonition that a young bride should seek wisdom. Battles and Roman triumphs are tediously common. They set a mark of valor for the bridegroom. Wedding Feasts are almost tautological on a bride-chest, but they afford charming pictures of the Florence that amused itself. [Illustration: FIG. 119_a._> Follower of Domenico Veneziano, perhaps Baldovinetti. Triumph of Fame. Birth Salver for Lorenzo de’ Medici.—_N. Y. Historical Society._ ]