UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active 1340s in Verona)

Tomb of Mastino II della Scala

1345-50
Marble
Santa Maria Antica, Verona

The Scaliger Tombs is a group of five Gothic funerary monuments in Verona, commemorating the Scaliger family, who ruled in Verona from the 13th to the late 14th century.

The tombs are located in a court outside the church of Santa Maria Antica, separated from the street by a wall with iron grilles. Built in Gothic style, they are a series of tombs, mostly freestanding open tabernacle-like structures rising high above the ground, with a sarcophagus surmounted by an elaborate baldachin, topped by a statue of the deceased, mounted and wearing armour.

Begun in 1345, the tomb of Mastino II della Scala was modified during its construction. It was originally painted and gilt, and is enclosed by a railing with four statues of the Virtues at the corners. The faces of the funerary urn are decorated by religious motifs; on the sepulchre cover lies again the deceased's statue, guarded by two angels. The baldachin has religious themes sculpted on the pediment, and is surmounted by an equestrian statue of Mastino II. Above the arcading of the monument, the pointed gables contain scenes from the Genesis.