ROSSELLINO, Bernardo
(b. 1409, Settignano, d. 1464, Firenze)

Tomb of Beata Villana

1451
Marble
Santa Maria Novella, Florence

From 1451 until 1453 Bernardo was in Rome, working as an architect for Pope Nicholas V. No sculpture in Rome has been connected with him, although his Florentine workshop continued to receive commissions, and in 1451 he contracted to complete the tomb of the Beata Villana (Santa Maria Novella, Florence) and six months later agreed to make further additions to this project.

Villana de' Botti (1332-1361) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. She turned to the Dominicans after a sudden conversion from a dissolute life and was noted for her simplistic life born out of her conversion. The confirmation of de' Botti's local 'cultus' on 27 March 1824 allowed for Pope Leo XII to grant his approval for her beatification.