|
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 Descent of Della Torre's Soul into the Underworld. The scene is divided in the centre by a tall elm tree: on the right, there is the river and the souls waiting to cross it; on the left, the mouth of Tartarus. A sinister group of figures is crowded around the entrance of Tartarus. In the lower left corner, an elderly man personifying Death is in a deep sleep; the figure of Fear, in the form of a lion, stands at his feet; slumbering at the base of the elm tree, with chimera and centaurs behind him, is the personification of Sleep. In the lower right corner, the Soul boards Charon's boat to make his journey to the Elysian Fields.
|
