page_title: Gasparo Cairano
section_title: The ark of Sant'Apollonio
hierarchical_section_title: Gasparo Cairano / Career / The ark of Sant'Apollonio
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: arca sant'apollonio duomo nuovo brescia.jpg
context_page_description: Gasparo Cairano, also known as Gasparo da Cairano, de Cayrano, da Milano, Coirano, and other variations, was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance.
  The artist emerged in 1489 as part of the cultural world of Milan, beginning a successful career that turned him into a leading exponent of Renaissance sculpture in Brescia, distinguishing himself with works of cultural import such as his cycle of the Caesars for the Loggia palace in Brescia, as well as the Mausoleum of Martinengo. He introduced a powerful and highly expressive classical taste, as opposed to the hitherto existing refined decorativeness. During the first decade of the sixteenth century, Gasparo was able to win over public and private clients who sought to translate into stone their pride in their supposed historical descent from ancient Rome.
  After his death, Gasparo's reputation fell into oblivion caused by unfavourable secular criticism. His complex artistic personality and catalog of works were only reconstructed from the end of the twentieth century, thanks to targeted critical studies that have for the first time allowed a thorough analysis and rediscovery of his works.
context_section_description: On January 5, 1503, the relics of Sant'Appollonio were discovered in the Basilica of San Pietro de Dom. In June, a resolution of the General council asked the chamber of notaries to finance a new reliquary ark, which however was not immediately funded.
  In 1506, the Council issued a peremptory reminder to the chamber for the funds, and the works probably began in September 1508. The relics were to be ceremoniously transferred to the reliquary in July 1510, by which time the ark was to have been finished. Hence,  it is possible to date the implementation of the project to 1508–1510.
  In 1505,  the ark of San Tiziano, designed by Sanmicheli, had been put in place in the Church of the Saints Cosma and Damiano in Brescia. This had had a resonance in the artistic world at the time, and led to the revival of a workshop that was no longer quite in vogue. Cairano committed deeply into the ark of Sant'Appollonio, which counts among his major works and effectively supplants Sanmicheli's ark for monumentality and refined ornamentation. In the new work, Cairano provides further proof of his abilities, excelling forcefully in a scenario where he is peerless, and responding to Sanmicheli with a production of the highest quality.
  Vito Zani pointed out in 2012 that the face of San Faustino is unfinished; it has been brought to a level of definition close to the sanding surface. These parts were not ground flat, but worked with a chisel directly, thereby ignoring the canonical technical process, and providing further evidence of the virtuosity of Gasparo Cairano in sculpting heads.
caption: The Ark of Sant'Appollonio (1508–1510)
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