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A distinctive monument was commissioned by Tommaso Rangone, a physician and expert on hygiene, an astrologer, philologist and patron of the arts from Ravenna. He had wanted his monument on the facade of S. Geminiano in the Piazza San Marco in Venice but it is found above the central portal of San Giuliano, a ruined church reconstructed by Sansovino for the purpose. Executed in collaboration with Alessandro Vittoria, it departs from the Venetian practice of honouring only patrician naval heroes on church facades (Rangone was a private citizen).
Above a simplified sarcophagus is a seated bronze statue of the patron, who is portrayed as a scholar in his study in a highly pictorial setting equivalent to portraits by Titian. Surrounded by humanist accoutrements illusionistically carved in low relief, Rangone is pursuing his love of learning for all eternity.
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