VISCARDI, Girolamo

In 1502 Louis XII commissioned a tomb in honour of his ancestors, the Dukes of Orleans, which was originally set up in the church of the Celestins in Paris, but is now at St Denis. The contract of 1502 mentions the Genoese sculptors, Michele d’Aria and Gerolamo Viscardi, and the two Florentines, Donato di Battista Bend and Benedetto da Rovezzano, who had settled in Genoa. This tomb shows a compromise scheme which was to become common in the next decades, consisting of a purely Italian sarcophagus supporting a recumbent figure, or “gisant” in the traditional French manner. The novelty of this tomb, apart from the strictly classical arcade round the sarcophagus, lies in the introduction in this arcade of the figures of the twelve apostles, which replace the “pleurants” usual in French tombs.

As a result of the French occupation of Genoa (1499-1508), Viscardi received a number of important commissions from French patrons and was therefore instrumental in introducing the Italian Renaissance style into France. There is, however, no evidence that he himself ever visited France. In 1502 Louis XII commissioned a tomb in honour of his ancestors the Dukes of Orl�ans from Viscardi and Michele d’Aria in association with the Florentines Donato Benti and Benedetto da Rovezzano. The marble monument, now in the abbey church of Saint-Denis, was originally set up in 1504 in the Celestine Church (destroyed), Paris; it combines a typically Italianate base in the form of a sarcophagus surrounded by small statues of apostles in niches with a more French style for the four reclining figures of Louis, Duke of Orl�ans (1372-1407), his wife Valentina Visconti (1366-1408) and two of their sons, Charles, Duke of Orl�ans (139-–1465) and Philippe, Comte de Vertus (1396-1420).

In 1502 Louis XII commissioned a tomb in honour of his ancestors, the Dukes of Orleans, which was originally set up in the church of the Celestins in Paris, but is now at St Denis. The contract of 1502 mentions the Genoese sculptors, Michele d’Aria and Gerolamo Viscardi, and the two Florentines, Donato di Battista Bend and Benedetto da Rovezzano, who had settled in Genoa. This tomb shows a compromise scheme which was to become common in the next decades, consisting of a purely Italian sarcophagus supporting a recumbent figure, or “gisant” in the traditional French manner. The novelty of this tomb, apart from the strictly classical arcade round the sarcophagus, lies in the introduction in this arcade of the figures of the twelve apostles, which replace the “pleurants” usual in French tombs.

In 1502 Louis XII commissioned a tomb in honour of his ancestors the Dukes of Orl�ans from Viscardi and Michele d’Aria in association with the Florentines Donato Benti and Benedetto da Rovezzano. The marble monument, now in the abbey church of Saint-Denis, was originally set up in 1504 in the Celestine Church (destroyed), Paris; it combines a typically Italianate base in the form of a sarcophagus surrounded by small statues of apostles in niches with a more French style for the four reclining figures of Louis, Duke of Orl�ans (1372-1407), his wife Valentina Visconti (1366-1408) and two of their sons, Charles, Duke of Orl�ans (139-–1465) and Philippe, Comte de Vertus (1396-1420).