Unknown Maker, Florentine

This sketch depicts a triumphal car in the midst of a procession. The notations in Italian, each referring to a vice such as pride or gluttony, suggest that it was a working drawing, possibly used to design an actual performance. Allegorical triumphal processions were programmatic parts of weddings, balletic interludes, and joyous entries staged privately at court and on public streets. The Renaissance revival of Roman literature and culture contributed to the interest in the triumph motif, also evident in the two drawings at left.