Plaster cast, painted plaster, after the original marble tomb of Ilaria del Carretto in the North Transept of Lucca Cathedral, possibly by Jacopo della Quercia, Lucca, 1406-7. Cast by Oronzio Lelli, probably in Siena, around 1889.

Plaster cast of the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto, wife of Paolo Guinigi, the wealthy merchant and ruler of Lucca, after the marble original by Jacopo della Quercia, situtated in the North Transept of the cathedral, Lucca.

Purchased from Oronzio Lelli in 1889 for £80

The tomb was first attributed to Jacopo della Quercia by Vasari in 1550, and he also identified the subject as Ilaria del Carretto (d. December 1405), wife of Paolo Guinigi, the wealthy merchant and ruler of Lucca. He records that following the expulsion of Paolo Guinigi from Lucca in 1429, the tomb was removed from the Guinigi chapel and destroyed except the effigy and sarcophagus, which are all that remain of this monument. Since this cast was made, in 1899, the coat of arms of the Guinigi family quartered with those of Ilaria del Carretto has been removed, in 1911, and restored to the head of the sarcophagus. Some of the plinth with swags on the side of this sarcophagus appear to be by a different hand and have been tentatively ascribed to Jacopo's collaborator, Francesco Valdambrino, whose presence in Lucca is documented.

REPRO.1889-106