Tomb of Cardinal Francisco de Quiñones
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Jacopo Sansovino and workshop
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Funerary monument , Tomb , Cardinal Francisco de Quiñones , Tabernacle , Venice , Franciscan
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Abstract
Behind the high altar and ciborium of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome is the funerary monument of Cardinal Francisco de Quiñones (1475–1540), titular cardinal of the basilica from 1528. He died in 1540 and was buried beneath the monument’s tabernacle. The structure features a double plinth bearing the cardinal’s arms, four engaged Corinthian columns of coloured marble with gilt capitals and bases, and an entablature topped by a central pediment and attic. The main structure includes niches with statues of David and Solomon, and a central recess housing a marble tempietto flanked by bronze angels, with additional marble angels below. The attic is crowned with a rectangular bay of coloured marble, bronzed scrolls, and a tympanum.
The tomb is generally attributed to Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570) and was designed while the cardinal was still alive. At the time, Sansovino was working on the church of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice. Bruce Boucher suggests that Quiñones may have commissioned the tomb design from Rome, and that the central bronze tabernacle in polychrome marble and kneeling angels in bronze were produced in Sansovino’s workshop and shipped to Rome along with the design drawings. According to Boucher, only these sculptural elements can be confidently attributed to Sansovino and his workshop. The tabernacle bears the date 1536, and the tabernacle and angels are associated with the sculptor through a letter sent to him by Pietro Aretino in November 1537. The letter does not mention the execution or design of any other part of the monument. While Aretino may have acted as an intermediary in arranging the commission, Manuela Morresi suggests that Friar Francesco Zorzi of San Francesco della Vigna is a more likely candidate. Zorzi had a personal relationship with Cardinal Quiñones and shared his Franciscan beliefs, making him a plausible mediator.
Boucher attributes the statues of David and Solomon to Stefano Moderno (1576–1636) or an artist from his circle or generation, but this attribution doesn’t align with the date of death of the cardinal. The monument was later modified during an eighteenth-century renovation of the presbytery, which included the addition of a strip of marble at its base.
Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome
Citation
Philipp Zitzlsperger, “Cardinals’ Tombs,” in A Companion to the Early Modern Cardinal, ed. Mary Hollingsworth, Miles Pattenden, and Arnold Witte (Brill, 2020), 591; Manuela Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino (Electa, 2000), 159–163; Manuela Morresi, and Dorothy Hay, “Cooperation and Collaboration in Vicenza before Palladio: Jacopo Sansovino and the Pedemuro Masters at the High Altar of the Cathedral of Vicenza” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 55, no. 2 (1996): 169; Bruce Boucher, The Sculpture of Jacopo Sansovino (Yale University Press, 1991), 52–53, 325–326.