Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome
New discoveries and an inventory of identified works
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-15-06Keywords:
Italy, Rome, Protestant Cemetery, sculpture, sculptor, tomb, commission, memorialAbstract
The funerary sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, the heart of Catholicism, has been little studied. A new inventory of monuments lists over 130 works for which the sculptor, architect or bronze foundry, either Italian or non-Italian, has been identified. Many new identifications, often based on previously unrecorded inscriptions, have brought to light the work of well-documented foreign sculptors who had settled in Rome either temporarily or permanently. Several elaborate monuments were evidently commissions from wealthy relatives or friends of the deceased, but a greater number were contributed by artistic family members or by other fellow artists. In these frequent cases, a desire to commemorate a relative or personal friend, rather than financial gain, would have been the primary motivation.
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