TORRIGIANO, Pietro
(b. 1472, Firenze, d. 1528, Sevilla)

Monument to Henry VII

1512-18
Bronze, approximately life-size
Westminster Abbey, London

In 1512 Henry VIII commissioned Torrigiano to design and execute the tomb of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, the central monument of the newly built chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. Earlier, in 1506, Guido Mazzoni (c. 1450-1518) had submitted an estimate, and probably a design for the tomb, which was to be based on that of Charles VIII of France at Saint-Denis. The kneeling figures are omitted in Torrigiano's design, however, and the corners are adorned by seated angels holding the epitaph and the royal arms. The effigies rest on a sarcophagus decorated with antique motifs (garlands, grotesques, birds and acanthus-leaf decoration), naked putti in the style of Verrocchio, bearing the royal arms and six roundels containing reliefs of the King's patron saints, arranged in pairs.

The head of the Queen is idealized, but that of the King is based on a death mask. The form of the monument reflects the tomb of Pope Sixtus IV in St Peter's, Rome, but certain features conform to English rather than Italian traditions - for example the tall tomb chest, the overall gilding and the composition of the bronze, although the casting and gilding methods employed were more advanced. The device of paired saints in relief (rather than statuettes in tabernacles) may derive from Donatello's bronze doors in the Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo, Florence, but the elegant figure style shows the influence of Lorenzo Ghiberti and Verrocchio. The monument has been called 'the finest Renaissance tomb north of the Alps' (Pope-Hennessy).