BAMBAIA
(b. 1483, Busto Arsizio, d. 1548, Milano)

Funeral Monument to Marino Caracciolo (detail)

1540s
White marble and black stone of Varallo
Cathedral, Milan

Works by Bambaia in Milan Cathedral include the grandiose marble monument to Marino Caracciolo (d. 1538), perhaps the best work of his later years, the small marble monument to Canon Giovanni Vimercati (d. 1548) and the marble altar of the Presentation of the Virgin (commissioned in 1543). He probably only provided the model for the last; he was then an old man and the marble altarpiece at the centre is noticeably different from his style.

The statues on the Caracciolo Monument represent (from left to right): St Ambrose, St Peter, Jesus resurrecting, St Paul, St Jerome. Beneath, the laying statue of the deceased, above the relief tondo of Madonna and Child can be seen.

Marino Caracciolo (1468-1538) was a Neapolitan cardinal and diplomat in the service of Emperor Charles V.