Instytut Sztuki (Warschau) [Hrsg.]; Państwowy Instytut Sztuki (bis 1959) [Hrsg.]; Stowarzyszenie Historyków Sztuki [Hrsg.]: Biuletyn Historii Sztuki (67.2005)

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Anna Boczkowska

lifetime. These values appear in the Chapel as the
prize of moral philosophical power as represented
by the figures of the saints placed in the niches and
the sepulchral statue of the king.
Let us add by way of closing that the ruler was
depicted in his sarcophagus in a Sansovino-like pose
of contemplative thought (ill. 25), which, placed in
the context of the neo-Platonic system of values pre-
sented in the chapel, appears as a symbol of theory
integrally related to a figure of 'noble melancholy'
(melancholia generosa) that characterised in the
opinion of the Florentine academics, including
Careggio, all people of genius: heroes, great rulers,

military leaders, philosophers, the holy and artists
gifted with the capacity for profound contemplation
by the oldest of planetary gods, Saturn, former ruler
of the golden age, who personified just and wise
governments. Sigismund's contemplative pose
therefore portrays the melancholy of a great mon-
arch, a victorious leader and thinker gifted by Saturn
with intellectual virtues, under whose leadership the
golden age was returned to his state. The medallion
depicted above the king with the image of the Virgin
Mary and Christ-child evokes the monarch's heav-
enly greeting and the Christian perspective of salva-
tion and immortality.
Translated by the Editors

1. Sigismund Chapel, detail of relief in the eastern
wall arch above the altar
2. Roman bronze mirror with depiction ofan expect-
ant Venus Genetrix
3. Fresco from the mausoleum in the Villa Negroni
depicting an image of Venus Genetrix, Rome, after
an etching by C. Butti, 1778
4. Seasons ofthe Year, after Raphael, detail ofa tap-
estry in the Vatican, Pinacotheca
5. Sigismund Chapel, detail ofa relief in the eastern
wall arch above the altar
6. Sigismund Chapel, detail of a relief from the pi-
laster in the altar niche
7. Donatello's bronze statue of David, Museo
Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
8. Piero di Cosimo, Portrait of Simonetta Cattaneo-
Vespucci, Chantilly, Musee de Chantilly
9. Sigismund Chapel, detail ofa relief in the western
wall arch above the tombs
10. Sigismund Chapel, detail ofa relief in the west-
ern wall arch above the tombs
11. Sigismund Chapel, detail of a relief with
stylobatein the eastern wall arch above the tombs
12. Eros and Anteros, ancient bas-relief, Museo
Nazionale, Naples
13. Antonio Sansovin, tomb of g. Basso della
Rovere, Rome, Santa Maria del Popolo, detail ofthe
relievo decoration

14. Donatello, northern pulpit, Florence, San
Lorenzo, detail ofthe relievo decoration
15. Sigismund°Chapel, relieffrom one of the corner
capitals
16. Sigismund Chapel, northern wall arch above the
entrance
17. Sigismund Chapel, detail of the relief in the
northern wall arch above the entrance
18. Antonio Federighi, stoup in Siena Cathedral
19. Sigismund Chapel, detail of the relief in the
southern wall arch above the stall
20. Sigismund Chapel, detail ofthe relief in the east-
ern wall arch above the altar
21. Relief depicting scenes from the struggle be-
tween Hercules and Hydra and Anteus, decorative
border ofthe Porta della Mandorla, Florence, Santa
Maria del Fiore
22. Hercules, detail of the decorative border of the
Porta della Mandorla, Florence, Santa Maria del
Fiore
23. Sigismund Chapel, capital of a pilaster in the
throne niche
24. Michelangelo, The Holy Family, detail from the
tondo, Florence, Uffizi
25. Bartholomeo Berrecci, sepulchral statue of
Sigismund I, Sigismund Chapel
26. Saturn, copperplate by Giulio Campagnolo