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Relief

1453-1461 (made), 1904 (cast)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This panel comes from the Tomb of Carlo Marsuppini at Santa Croce in Florence by Desiderio da Settignano, executed between 1453 and 1461. Carlo Marsuppini was the chancellor of the Florentine Republic, and also a humanist.

This relief was produced in the Victoria and Albert Museum, possibly by the Department for the Sale of Casts (later the Casts Department).

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Plaster cast
Brief description
Relief with inscription from the Tomb of Carlo Marsuppini at Santa Croce in Florence, plaster cast, after original by Desiderio da Settignano, 1453-1461
Physical description
Panel with inscription in Latin
Dimensions
  • Approximately height: 31cm
  • Approximately width: 100cm
  • Weight: 12kg
Style
Marks and inscriptions
SISTE VIDES MAGNVM QVAE SERVANT MARMORA VATEM I INGENIO CVIVS NON SATIS ORBIS ERAT QVAE NATVRA POLVS QVAE MOS FERAT OMNIA NOVIT KAROLVS AETATIS GLORIA MAGNA SVAE. AVSONIAE ET GRAIAE CRINES NVNC SOLVITE MVSAE OCCIDIT HEV VESTRI FAMA DECVS QVE CHORI. (Composed by the humanist, Francesco Griffolini, in two letters to Piero de Medici written in June and July 1459.)
Translation
Stay and see the marbles which enshrine a great sage, one for whose mind the was not world enough. Carlo, the great glory of his age, knew all the nature, the heavens, and human conduct have to tell. O Roman and Greek muses, now unloose your hair. Alas, the fame and splendour of your choir is dead.
Object history
This relief was produced in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum also owns a plaster cast of the tomb, which was purchased from Oronzio Lelli in in 1891.
Historical context
Giorgio Vasari describes the tomb in his Life of Desiderio da Settignano, 'He made the tomb of messer Carlo Marsuppini of Arezzo in S. Croce, which not only astonished the artists and intelligent persions who looked at it at that time, but continues to astonish those who see it now.'

Carlo Marsuppini was the chancellor of the Florentine Republic, and also a humanist. He was known for his letters and poems. Pope Nicholas V instructed him in 1452 to translate Homer's Iliad into Latin, but this project was largely incomplete when Marsuppini died.

The Museum operated a Department for the Sale of Casts (later the Casts Department), which produced commercial casts on demand, and which may have been responsible for producing this cast. This department produced plaster casts and electrotypes for sale to art schools and members of the public. It is unclear if this cast would have been on display or for sale, as the inscription is also on the full cast of the Marsuppini tomb.
Production
19th century plaster cast after original date 1453-1461 by Desiderio da Settignano
Summary
This panel comes from the Tomb of Carlo Marsuppini at Santa Croce in Florence by Desiderio da Settignano, executed between 1453 and 1461. Carlo Marsuppini was the chancellor of the Florentine Republic, and also a humanist.

This relief was produced in the Victoria and Albert Museum, possibly by the Department for the Sale of Casts (later the Casts Department).
Bibliographic references
  • Pope-Hennessey, John. Italian Renaissance Sculpture. London: 1996, pp. 377-378.
  • Bull, George (trans.). Lives of the Artists: A Selection by Giorgio Vasari. New York: 1971.
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.1904A-37

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Record createdNovember 8, 2010
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