Tomb of Giovanna di Durazzo and Roberto d'Artois

Abstract

The tomb of Giovanna di Durazzo and Roberto d'Artois sits in San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples and was originally in a chapel in that church with an almost identical tomb, that of Charles of Durazzo. Both tombs have the same structure: virtues below supporting a sarcophagus which is ornamented with tondi with the dead Christ flanked by the mourning Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. Above, effigies (or, in the case of the other tomb, an effigy) lay on top of the sarophagus beneath a kind of baldacchin, with angels drawing back curtains. Both impressive tombs are richly ornamented with carved fleurs di lis and must have originally been even more splendid when the forms and patterns were picked out in colors and gold. The inscription on the sarcophagus reads: HIC IACENT CORPORA ILLUSTRIUM DOMINI ROBERTI DE ARTOIS ET DOMINAE IOANNAE DUCISSAE DURACHII / CONIUGUM, OUI OBIERUNT ANNO / DOMINI MCCCLXXXVII DIE / XX MENSIS JULII DECIMAE INDICIONIS QUORUM ANIMAE REQUIESCANT IN PACE AMEN. The tomb was moved to its current location in the church in 1639, as noted by a plaque. The iconography of the central virtue is puzzling, as the figure holds a bird in one hand, and a dish with the heads of an old and young man in the other. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License