Ameto's Discovery of the Nymphs
Master of 1416·1410
Historical Context
The Master of 1416's Ameto's Discovery of the Nymphs, dated around 1410, illustrates a scene from Boccaccio's Ameto — an early humanist prose work in which the rough hunter Ameto encounters a group of nymphs bathing and is transformed by love and beauty into a civilized man. The subject is a very early example of a Boccaccian narrative in painting and belongs to the same panel series as the Contest between Shepherds, suggesting a patron with sophisticated humanist literary interests. The choice of Boccaccio as a source in 1410 demonstrates the rapid assimilation of Trecento literary culture into the visual arts of the International Gothic period.
Technical Analysis
The panel depicts the nymphs in a woodland setting with careful attention to foliage and natural detail unusual for the period. Figures are rendered in the elegant, elongated manner of north Italian International Gothic. The pale flesh tones of the nymphs provide luminous accents against the darker greens of the landscape.
