The Tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci (or Brancaccio) is a sculptural work in the church of
Sant'Angelo a Nilo
Sant'Angelo a Nilo is a Roman Catholic church located on the Decumano Inferiore (Spaccanapoli street) in Naples, Italy. It stands diagonally across from San Domenico Maggiore in Naples. It is known for containing the monumental Renaissance-st ...
in
Naples, southern Italy, executed by
Donatello and
Michelozzo
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi (1396 – 7 October 1472) was an Italian architect and sculptor. Considered one of the great pioneers of architecture during the Renaissance, Michelozzo was a favored Medici architect who was extensively empl ...
around 1426-1428. Built in marble, partly gilt and polychrome, it has a height of 11.60 meters and a width of 4.60.
History
The work was produced during the partnership of Donatello and Michelozzo, which lasted from 1425 until the late 1430s. It was commissioned when Brancacci was still alive: a letter to him of 5 June 1427 mentions the work as completed for some one quarter. In 1426 the two rented a workshop in
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, from where the pieces of the tomb could be more easily shipped to Naples by sea; the city was also nearer to the marble quarries of
Carrara. Assistants, including perhaps
Pagno di Lapo Portigiani, collaborated to the work, which was completed and sent to its destination in 1428.
Description
The work is based on a
socle from which two composite columns start. They support a round arch with side
pendentives decorated by chamfered pilasters and tondo reliefs. At the top is the cusp, in
Gothic style with, at the centre, a relief tondo of "Christ Redeemer" and two statues of puttos with trumpets (an allusion to the biblical
Apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
and the resurrection of the dead).
The tomb itself is enclosed in the architectural frame, supported by three
caryatids. The sarcophagus' front has two coat of arms at the sides, and a
stiacciato
Stiacciato is a technique that allows a sculptor to create a recessed or relief sculpture with carving only millimetres deep and with mere scribing. To give the illusion of greater depth, the thickness of the carving gradually decreases from the f ...
relief of the "Assumption of the Virgin" executed by Donatello. Above it is the lying portrait of the cardinal and two angels who are opening a stone drapery hanging from the arch. Behind them is a
lunette
A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...
with a bas-relief of the "Madonna between Two Saints".
See also
*
Tomb of Antipope John XXIII
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brancacci Naples
Sculptures by Donatello
1428 works
Monuments and memorials in Naples