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Tomb
of Ilaria del Carretto
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No funerary
monument, reads in the books of art history, equals
the wonderful serenity, the intense and restrained
lyricism of the funeral monument of Ilaria del
Carretto, a true symbol of the city of Lucca. He
still seems to hear that damn rhythm, stunning the
soul between ancient seigniories and graceful
maidens. "Now women now are the white cornflower
| closed or clothed, spread out on the lid | of the
beautiful tomb; and you had it in mirror | perhaps,
thy shore had its vestiges. | But today Ilaria of
the Carretto | does not lord the earth that you
bathe, | or Serchio[...]" (Gabriele D' Annunzio,
Elettra)
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Of Lucca the writer and poet, Gabriele D'Annunzio
reminds those who in life had smiles and romantic remains to
give them smiles in death. She was Ilaria del Carretto,
born in Savona and dead "Lucchese", second wife of Paolo
Guinigi, lord of the city. Daughter of the Marquis of
Western Liguria, his marriage with Guinigi, perhaps the
richest man in Europe at the time, was agreed by Gian
Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Milan, to strengthen
the alliance against the Seignory of Florence. She
was said to be beautiful, well educated and gifted. He was
only 26 years old when he died in 1405, giving birth to a
daughter also called Ilaria.
 A
few years later,
Jacopo della Quercia dedicated
that famous funeral monument, one of the most beautiful'
artistic gestures' in the history of Italian art. From
that sculptural face, which today everyone can admire in
the
Cathedral of San Martino, it seems almost
possible to read the small daily deeds of a young lady
of other times, such is the perpetual charm that the
Sienese artist has assured posterity.
The sculptural masterpiece allows us to get to know the
historical events related to Ilaria del Carretto. The
sculpture was commissioned from Della Quercia by Paolo Guinigi
himself, husband of the young man, in order to eternalize the
memory of his wife. Remember
Vasari in 1568:.
"In Lucca and here to Paolo Guinigi, who was lord of Lucca,
he made it for his wife who had died a short while, in the
church of San Martino, a burial; in the basement of which he led
some marble cherubs that hold a festoon so neatly, that they
seemed to be of flesh: and in the crate placed above the said
basement he made with infinite diligence the image of Paulo
Guinigi's wife inside..."
 Recent
studies have established that Ilaria del Carretto in
that magnificent tomb has never been buried and that
its remains were in fact preserved in the church of
Santa Lucia, in the complex of the Franciscan
monastery recently beautifully restored in Lucca. At
the centre of the studies is the Guinigi Chapel,
in which various members of the noble family of Lucca
were buried. Still in the chapel, but separated from the
rest, there are other tombs, remains of individual
burials belonging according to the studies of the wives
of Guinigi. In fact, he had four wives: Maria
Caterina degli Anterminelli, the first very young
wife (he was only 12 years old when she died in 1400
from an epidemic of plague), Ilaria del Carretto, then
Piacentina da Varano and finally Jacopa Trinci,
last wife (married in 1420 and died in 1422). One of
these burials houses a skeleton between 20 and 27 years
old, which is attributed to Ilaria del Carretto.
 Whether
or not a body is now gone, it matters little. In the
historical memory remains the splendid work of art.
Still today, after six centuries, the funeral monument
carved with great skill is still moving, able to move,
to observe that small dog at the feet of the young man,
who looks upon her, begging new caresses. It does not
accept the event, it is not able to interpret it. We do
not have any information to understand if the dog has
existed or not; it seems to represent a symbol of
conjugal fidelity, as it was used at the time,
especially in the courts of northern Europe, with which
the Tuscan seigniories were in contact. From an artistic
point of view, its position takes the viewer to a
broader and deeper perspective towards the young
person's face.
Ilaria arrived in Lucca in the middle of winter, on February
2,1403. It was little more than twenty-four years old when
outside the
Walls of Lucca, in Ponte San Pietro, she met her
future husband, six years older, and already a widower of the
young Antelminelli (the latter, let's remember, was in turn a
descendant of
Castruccio Castracani). Ilaria and Paolo married
the following day in the Church of San Romano, with
magnificence and in the presence of the greater nobility of
Lucca. The city, however, had the opportunity to meet the young
woman for only two years, the time of two pregnancies: the
first, completed with the birth of
Ladislao, the second with the birth of a little girl who
bears his own name (Ilaria Minor) and whose birth was
fatal. A few years later, Jacopo della Quercia created the
famous funeral monument, which was originally located in the
southern part of the transept (near Domenico Bertini's funeral
monument).
Paolo Guinigi was a man of power and culture, he understood art
and recognized its value. For this reason he wanted to continue
to show his love and power with a tomb uncommon in Italy, and in
a position, that inside the Cathedral of his city, which had to
remind the people of Lucca of the power of the Guinigi family.
In fact, a stately chapel was created in the transept of the
church.
For the great Victorian art critic John Ruskin, Jacopo
della Quercia's sculpture dedicated to Ilaria del Carretto was
the most beautiful Renaissance sculpture. Ruskin loved Lucca
very much, perhaps more than Venice or Florence, and over the
course of 30 years, he stayed here many times; he took his place
in a room with views of Piazza Napoleone at the Hotel Universo
(which is always there). Read also about his appreciation for
Santa Maria Forisportam, a forgotten treasure,
which still preserves two precious paintings by Guercino.
Ruskin did not fail to return to Lucca to visit his "Ilaria", of
which he painted four beautiful watercolours. So he wrote after
the first time in front of the sculpture:
"Ella giace su un semplice cuscino, con un cagnolino ai
piedi. La veste di foggia medievale è assai modesta, attillata
alle maniche e chiusa al collo, le ricade sul petto a
fitte larghe. Il capo è cinto da una fascia con tre fiori a
forma di stella e i capelli sono acconciati e i capelli sono
acconciati alla maniera di Maddalena, con una ondulazione che si
nota appena là dove sfiorano le guance. Le braccia sono adagiate
dolcemente sul corpo e le mani si congiungono nell'atto di
abbassarsi. Il morbido drappeggio scende fino ai piedi, quasi
celando il cane."
Da lì in poi Ilaria sarebbe sempre rimasta nel cuore del
grande critico, quasi un innamoramento durato tutta la vita.
30 anni dopo scrisse: "Devo fermarmi un attimo con il
pensiero alla tomba di Ilaria del Carretto e a quanto
precocemente, allora, ebbi la certezza che da quel momento
sarebbe stata per me il modello supremo."
"She lies on a simple pillow, with a little dog at her
feet. The dress of medieval shape is very modest, attached
to the sleeves and closed at the neck, falls on the chest
thick wide. The head is surrounded by a band with three
star-shaped flowers and the hair is hairstyle and hair is
hairstyle in Maddalena's way, with a ripple that is
noticeable just where the cheeks touch. The arms are gently
resting on the body and the hands come together in the act
of lowering. The soft draping descends down to the feet,
almost concealing the dog".
From there onwards Ilaria would always remain in the heart
of the great critic, almost a lifetime fall in love. 30
years later he wrote:"I have to stop for a moment with my
thoughts at the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto and how early,
then, I had the certainty that from that moment it would be
for me the supreme model".
Ilaria wounds
On 4 May 1987, all the newspapers of Italy and Europe titled: "Vandals
rubbed the sarcophagus of Ilaria del Carretto's greatest damage
in the cathedral". The sarcophagus of Ilaria del Carretto
was scarred by some members of a group of students visiting the
city. The greatest damage was caused to the rosettes and cherubs
carved in the left part of the cenotaph, which were discarded by
some blunt object. This gesture, unfortunately recurring to the
detriment of Italian masterpieces of art, produced a damage that
was restored, with much controversy among experts for the
excessive final polishing. The sculpture also carries wounds to
the nose, caused by a local belief: it brought luck to kiss her
nose, said the popular tradition, "and the children who make
it get married soon".
Conclusion
The young Ilaria seems asleep, dormant in the centuries of
unreal sleep. How many have been in history those who have come
to contemplate this marvel of art? How many people have felt
that mixed feeling between frustration, peace and poetic charge?
No suffering has remained on the face, because it is not a death
that is represented, but a serene sleep. Here lies the greatness
of an artist like Jacopo della Quercia, capable of creating not
the monument celebrating a deceased, but the portrait of a
living person, who defies the transience of matter and the
inexorable passage of time.
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