Tomb of Boniface VIII

The last Roman work that can be certainly attributed to Arnolfo is the tomb of Pope Boniface VIII, which was completed by 1300, and possibly as early as 1296. It is more simply constructed than the de Braye tomb and is more unified, the relationship between the sarcophagus and recumbent effigy showing stronger compositional control. The effigy was flanked at head and foot by angels holding a curtain. The sarcophagus and sculpted figures were originally installed in a rectangular niche above the altar to St Boniface IV on the entrance wall of Old St Peter’s; there was a mosaic above by Jacopo Torriti showing the Pope kneeling before the Virgin and Child, accompanied by Sts Peter and Paul. The original appearance of the tomb and the chapel of St Boniface in which it stood is reproduced in the Album of Giacomo Grimaldi (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Archivio Capitolare di San Pietro, Rome). Soon after its completion, the tomb was being used as a model for those of several other Roman prelates, for example the tombs of Bishop Durandus (d 1296) in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Cardinal Gonz�lez Garc�a Gudiel (d 1298) in Santa Maria Maggiore and Cardinal Matteo d’Acquasparta (d 1302) in Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The novel positioning of Boniface’s tomb above or directly behind the altar was also soon imitated.

According to Vasari, the chapel of St Boniface, which was consecrated on 6 May 1296, bore the inscription HOC OPUS FECIT ARNOLPHUS ARCHITECTUS. This would be the first time that Arnolfo was described as an architect, the principal activity of his later years.