BONINO DA CAMPIONE
(active 1350-1390 in Lombardy)

Monument to Cansignorio della Scala

1376
Marble
Santa Maria Antica, Verona

The sculptural history of northern Italy in the fourteenth century is punctuated by a series of magnificent tombs. The most impressive group was raised to members of the Scaliger family, lords of Verona. The tombs followed an existing tradition of external monuments. The latest monument to Cansignorio della Scala is also the most complicated. This monuments stands amidst a large number of others in a cemetery adjacent to the entrance of the church.

Although this monument, commissioned by Cansignorio, is signed by Bonino Campione, it has little in common with his other works. It is probably a composite work hurriedly designed and erected at the request of the youthful ruler during his final illness. (Cansignorio was only thirty-six when he died in 1375.)