Mausoleum of Giulio Antonio Acquaviva and Caterina del Balzo Orsini
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Authors
Nuzzo Barba
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Tomb , Madonna , Child , Virtues , Cenotaph
Alternative Title
Abstract
The Mausoleum of Giulio Antonio Acquaviva and Caterina del Balzo Orsini ( Santa Maria dell'Isola, Conversano) by Nuzzo Barba was commissioned by their son, Andrea Matteo III, at the beginning of the 16th century. Completed in c. 1525 forty years after Giulio Antonio's death, it was originally intended as a representative cenotaph, but Giulio Antonio's body was later relocated there from its original burial place in the Collegiata of Sternatia. Nuzzo Barba's specialty in humanistic funerary projects culminates in this mausoleum, which reflects not only his stylistic maturity but also in its classical references his knowledge of Dalmation sculptors such as Giorgio Sebonico. The mausoleum also directly references the sarcophagi of Caterina del Balzo Orisini's father and brother, Raimondello and Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo in the Church of Santa Caterina, Galatina. Similar to Santa Caterina, which was founded by Raimondello at the end of the fourteenth century, Santa Maria dell'Isola in Conversano was founded by the Acquavivas, and both churches were attached to Franciscan convents. Images of the corpses of Giulio Antonio and Caterina, set with in an elaborate classical frame, are revealed behind a curtain pulled back by angels. Both are dressed in Franciscan robes, to show their piety, and are shown resting in a final sleep. Above, Baby Jesus sleeps on Mary's lap, a literal and spiritual parallel to the effigies of the deceased couple. Flanking the effigies of the deceased are paintings (added later in the seventeenth century) and sculptures of St. Anthony of Padua and St. Francis. On the level above, allegorical personifications of Charity (with nursing multiple children) and Faith (holding a cross and chalice with the eucharist), in classicizing shell-headed niches. Crowning the altarpiece, above flesh-colored sculpted angels holding a festoon and the families' coats of arms, displayed by more little angels, is a crucifix, with St. Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist mourning, and the Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Zacchariah on the corners holding scrolls. The largest figures and the closest to the viewer on ground level are personifications of the four cardinal virtues: Fortitude (with a column and lion), Justice (perhaps originally holding the traditional sword and/or scales, now lost), Prudence (with the snake and perhaps originally a mirror), and Temperance (pouring water). These figures were originally at least partly polychromed, as traces of paint can be seen in the incisions marking the hair, folds of the clothing, etc. These figures trumpet the virtues of the deceased and their son, who commissioned the work, and also their classical culture. The virtues are classical in content, as the very notion of allegorical personifications and their specific attributes are classical in origin, and also in form, powerful women, wearing what looks vaguely to be ancient dress, with ancient Roman facial features and hairstyles. The entire monument could be said to evince a balance between Christian (specifically Franciscan) humility and classical magnificence, with perhaps more of the latter than the former. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Santa Maria dell'Isola, Conversano
Citation
Giacomo Lazilotta, Aurelio Persio e la scultura del rinascimento in Puglia (Bari: Mario Adda, 2010), pp. 19-20, 63 n. 30; Scultura del rinascimento in Puglia, ed. Clara Gelao (Bari: Edipuglia, 2004); p. 24; Clara Gelao, ""Monumenti funerari cinquecenteschi"" in Territorio e feudalita del Mezzogiorno rinascimentale. Il ruolo degli Aquaviva tra XV e XVI secolo (1996), 303-48; Giacomo Lazilotta, Aurelio Persio e la scultura del rinascimento in Puglia (Bari: Mario Adda, 2010), pp. 19-20, 63 n. 30; Gelao, Clara. ""L'attività di Nuzzo Barba a Conversano e le influenze Veneto-Dalmate nella scultura Pugliese del rinascimento."" Saggi E Memorie Di Storia Dell'arte 16 (1988): 198. Accessed April 28, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/43140586.