RICCIO, Andrea
(b. 1470, Trento, d. 1532, Padova)

Della Torre Monument: Relief #3

1510s
Bronze
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The plain marble sarcophagus is decorated with eight rectangular narrative reliefs which relate in a thoroughly classical narrative sequence the end of the career, the death, after-life and posthumous fame of a medical professor: a theme that could apply equally to either the older (Girolamo, d. 1506) or the younger (Marcantonio, d. 1511) Della Torre.

The picture shows the Sacrifice to Aesculapius. In the third panel, a sacrifice is made on behalf of Della Torre. A large group of people, predominantly male, have gathered outside a temple for the sacrificial rites. The fire burns atop the sacrificial altar as two libations are gently poured onto the altar. Behind the altar is the façade of a temple with Ionic columns; there are palm trees on each side of the temple, highlighting the central placement of the temple and the altar in the panel.