DOI Kapitel:
Chapter V: S. Lorenzo
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62110#0132
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VERROCCHIO
the strong spinous leaves of the cactus. Never has foliage
been treated with so trenchant a vigour. Dragon-like, the
leaves seem to symbolise the power of the dynasty which
bore as its motto “ Strength Indomitable.” In such a
tomb, classic in its severity, might fitly rest the bones of
some antique hero. There is no sign anywhere of Christian
symbolism; even the inscription bears no religious refer-
ence. The Medici were a self-sufficient race, and the
emblems are fitly chosen from their own devices.
The severity of the decoration is all the more remark-
able in that epoch of elaborate monuments. The Tomb of
Desiderio in S. Croce (1453) with its lavish ornament,
that of Antonio Rossellino in S. Miniato (1461-66) with
its baroque curtains and flying angels, had set the fashion
in Florentine mortuary sculpture for a superabundance of
decoration beside which the Tomb of Verrocchio seems
harsh and austere. In addition to the elaborate carving,
these monuments were brilliantly painted and gilded, while
that of Verrocchio depends for colour on the material itself
—the rich sombre colours of porphyry, serpentine, and
bronze. In comparison with the simple grandeur of this
tomb, the overladen wall-monuments of the late fifteenth
century seem trivial and insignificant.
The sole defect of the work, to which reference has
already been made—that the Sarcophagus is conceived on
too small a scale in its general lines—is more than counter-
balanced by the grandeur of the detail. At a distance
we might, perhaps, think of jewel-caskets and small gold-
smiths’-work ; but standing close, and impressed, as we
must be, by the fierce strength of the bronze foliage, the
sharp ornament of the diamond, the power and trenchant
energy of the treatment, no such idea would present itself.
VERROCCHIO
the strong spinous leaves of the cactus. Never has foliage
been treated with so trenchant a vigour. Dragon-like, the
leaves seem to symbolise the power of the dynasty which
bore as its motto “ Strength Indomitable.” In such a
tomb, classic in its severity, might fitly rest the bones of
some antique hero. There is no sign anywhere of Christian
symbolism; even the inscription bears no religious refer-
ence. The Medici were a self-sufficient race, and the
emblems are fitly chosen from their own devices.
The severity of the decoration is all the more remark-
able in that epoch of elaborate monuments. The Tomb of
Desiderio in S. Croce (1453) with its lavish ornament,
that of Antonio Rossellino in S. Miniato (1461-66) with
its baroque curtains and flying angels, had set the fashion
in Florentine mortuary sculpture for a superabundance of
decoration beside which the Tomb of Verrocchio seems
harsh and austere. In addition to the elaborate carving,
these monuments were brilliantly painted and gilded, while
that of Verrocchio depends for colour on the material itself
—the rich sombre colours of porphyry, serpentine, and
bronze. In comparison with the simple grandeur of this
tomb, the overladen wall-monuments of the late fifteenth
century seem trivial and insignificant.
The sole defect of the work, to which reference has
already been made—that the Sarcophagus is conceived on
too small a scale in its general lines—is more than counter-
balanced by the grandeur of the detail. At a distance
we might, perhaps, think of jewel-caskets and small gold-
smiths’-work ; but standing close, and impressed, as we
must be, by the fierce strength of the bronze foliage, the
sharp ornament of the diamond, the power and trenchant
energy of the treatment, no such idea would present itself.