Mausoleum of Marco Mantova Benavides

Ammanati was documented as active in Padua and Vicenza intermittently between 1544 and 1548. He carved a colossal Hercules for the courtyard of the Paduan palazzo of the humanist jurist and antiquarian Marco Mantova Benavides. This was followed by the tomb of Marco Mantova Benavides (unveiled 1546) in the church of the Eremitani, Padua.

The tomb is reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Medici wall tombs (New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence) with a tiered architectural setting. It is topped with a statue of Immortality flanked by nude youths. In the middle zone are three pedimented embrasures (like blank windows) framing statues of the deceased flanked by Honour and Fame. Below stands a sarcophagus with an unusual segmental lid, ending in volutes (again like the Medici tombs), and on either side of this are allegorical figures of Work and Wisdom. The figures are solidly built, with bold poses and simple gestures: the torsions of their contrapposti and diagonals of their limbs balance symmetrically to create a visual unity within the sculptural components. They animate the austere, but noble, classical architecture; Ammanati here achieved an exact balance between the two diverse art forms, which makes his tomb a masterpiece.