Tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci, Renaissance marble tomb in Sant'Angelo a Nilo, Italy
The Tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci is a marble monument in Sant'Angelo a Nilo featuring two Corinthian columns that support an arch decorated with pilasters. Above this structure sit sculptures of the Madonna, the Christ Child, and the saints Michael and John the Baptist, arranged to draw the eye upward.
Donatello and Michelozzo created this marble monument between 1426 and 1428, following the death of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci in 1427. The two artists opened a workshop in Pisa specifically for this undertaking, making it easier to ship the marble pieces to Naples by sea.
The Assumption scene carved into the tomb shows how artists created the feeling of depth by varying the thickness of the marble in delicate ways. This approach to depicting scenes became a new standard that other sculptors learned from and copied.
The monument occupies a significant portion of the church's wall and commands attention through its size and vertical reach. Visitors can view it comfortably up close from the main body of the church without any special arrangements.
What many visitors do not realize is that the artists established a dedicated workshop in Pisa just to handle the marble work for this single project. This arrangement meant they could manage the production carefully and then ship finished sections by sea to Naples, an approach that required significant planning.
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