In 1483, the powerful Pucci family of Florence commissioned Sandro Botticelli to create a series of four panels narrating a tale from Boccaccio's Decameron as a wedding gift. These paintings were intended to decorate a bridal chamber, their vivid storytelling serving as both entertainment and moral lesson for the newlyweds. The third panel, The Story of Nastagio Degli Onesti, part three, captures a pivotal moment in this narrative cycle, blending the fantastical with the practical concerns of love and marriage in Renaissance Florence. At the heart of this panel, Nastagio hosts a grand banquet in a pine grove, inviting his beloved and her family.

Suddenly, the supernatural spectacle he alone had witnessed—a ghostly knight hunting a naked woman—erupts before all the guests. Botticelli’s composition is alive with movement: the terrified woman flees, the knight pursues, and the guests recoil in horror. The silverware on the table glints with the same cold light as the knight’s armor, tying the feast to the haunting.

Unlike the more restrained storytelling of Ghirlandaio, Botticelli fills the scene with overlapping figures and urgent gestures, intensifying the drama and ensuring the lesson—fear can move hearts—lands with force. The panels remained in Florence for centuries, admired for their narrative clarity and decorative charm. Though the exact medium is uncertain, they are believed to be tempera on wood, typical of Botticelli's workshop in the early Renaissance. Today, The Story of Nastagio Degli Onesti, part three is part of the Prado Museum’s collection in Madrid, a testament to the international journeys of Florentine art.

The series is often studied as a bridge between private, domestic commissions and the grander public works that would soon define Botticelli’s career.