Tomb of Guarnerio degli Antelminelli

Giovanni di Balduccio's style is known from four signed works, which have formed the basis for a reconstruction of his oeuvre: the tomb of Guarniero degli Antelminelli (c. 1327-28) in San Francesco, Sarzana; the pulpit in Santa Maria del Prato in San Casciano, near Florence; the shrine of St Peter Martyr (dated 1339) in Sant'Eustorgio, Milan; and the architrave (1347) from the main portal of Santa Maria di Brera, Milan (fragments in Milan, Castello Sforzesco).

The tomb of Guarnerio degli Antelminelli is on the transept wall in San Francesco, a church of medieval origin in Sarzana. Guarnerio degli Antelminelli, the youngest son of the fierce condottiere Castruccio Castracani (1281-1328), died as a child in 1327. The condottiere (or captain of mercenaries) ruled Lucca from 1316 to 1328.

The signed wall tomb comprises a sarcophagus supported on consoles, a death chamber surmounted by a tabernacle and a baldacchino covering the whole, following Sienese models. The statue of the Virgin and Child in the tabernacle is a copy; the original in Philadelphia was purloined in 1916. The coat of arms on the tomb incorporating the lozenges of the Wittelsbach family was granted to the child's father, Castruccio Castracane, in 1327 by Emperor Ludwig when he made him Duca di Lucca.

On the side of the tomb, the frescoed lunette representing Christ in piety between Santa Chiara and San Francesco is by Priamo della Quercia, brother of the more famous Jacopo della Quercia.