Explore the History of this artwork.
In 1494, Gasparo Cairano received a commission to work on the chapel of the Magdalene in the church of St Francis, Brescia, from the prior of its convent, Francesco Sanson. That same year, some embellishment began to the chapel (today dedicated to the Sacred Heart) as part of a wider renovation of the entire church promoted by Sanson. (In 1499, Sanson's last will decreed the construction of the monumental cross of St Francis, one of the major masterpieces of Brescian jewellery of the time.)
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Paolo Guerrini found in the Brunelli family archive in Bassano Bresciano some unspecified documents, according to which it appears that the mausoleum was completed in 1496 by M. Gaspare of Milan. The date 1500 is engraved on the tomb, making it likely that Guerrini's document constituted the contract for execution. While Guerrini does not mention the client's name, it is likely it is the Gaspare Brunelli who died on 10 April 1497.The monument has never changed its location over the centuries, but it has lost its central medallion and probably also sculptural cymatium that was to adorn the upper pedestal.
Gasparo Cairano Brescia cymatium Bassano Bresciano