Tomb of Antipope John XXIII - Design

Design

The Baptistry already contained three sarcophagi: those of Bishop Ranieri (d. 1113) and two reused Roman sarcophagi. However, the tomb monument at 7.32 metres (24.02 ft) in height was easily the tallest monument in the Baptistry, and—at the time—in Florence. The Duomo contains few tombs, with some notable exceptions, such as that of Aldobrandino Ottobuoni.

The tomb monument adapted to the conditions imposed by the Calimala and integrated with the interior of the Baptistry. The wall tomb was required to be placed between two pre-existing Corinthian columns—the central pillars between Ghiberti's North Doors and the eastern tribune—constituting one-third of one of the octagonal walls, near the altar and facing Ghiberti's East Doors. The setting starves the tomb monument of light, especially when the Baptistry’s doors are closed, which is normally the case. It would be even darker were it not for the "screen" back wall protruding 48.4 centimetres (19.1 in) from the Baptistry wall. The white and brown (and whitish-brown) marble further integrates the structure with the polychromatic white and green of the Baptistry interior. Some scholars accept the colored sketch of Buonaccorso Ghirberti as evidence that the "original effaced polychromy" of the tomb was more integrated, although others contend that the sketch is too inaccurate. The canopy’s interaction with the columns and conceit of being supported by the Baptistry cornice make the tomb monument further "wedded to the architecture" around it, even if the marriage is morganatic. Apart from the effigy on the sarcophagus, all the other sculpted figures are in high relief.

Although the style of the work is thoroughly classicising, the overall form reflects the grandest type of the medieval Italian wall tomb, in which the vertical piling-up of a series of different elements is characteristic. Italian Gothic sculpture always retained considerable elements of classicism, and it was not necessary for Donatello and Michelozzo to adopt a radically original overall scheme from those of Tino di Camaino (c. 1285–1337), the Siennese sculptor whose wall-tombs of a century before had been very influential throughout Italy. A life-size marble effigy lying on top of an elevated protruding sarcophagus is highly typical. The motif of curtains at the top is often found in monuments using Gothic decorative details, and the shape recalls the triangular gable tops of monuments in a more thoroughly Gothic style; other monuments have curtains, often held open by angels, around the effigy, and then sculptures above. The Cossa monument is often compared to the monument to Doge Tommaso Mocenigo of Venice, of 1423, which has high relief saints in shell niches on and above the sarcophagus, above which a large pair of curtains sweep up to a single terminal; however the architectural detailing here is Gothic. The design of the Cossa tomb itself was elaborated on, and adapted to local conventions, in the tomb by the same team for Cardinal Brancacci in Naples, and influenced the monument to Leonardo Bruni by Bernardo Rossellino, of about 20 years later, in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.