page_title: Gasparo Cairano
section_title: The Martinengo mausoleum
hierarchical_section_title: Gasparo Cairano / Career / The Martinengo mausoleum
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Mausoleo Martinengo
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: One of the questions on the later years of Cairano's career is that of the completion of the Martinengo mausoleum, the largest funereal monument of the Brescian renaissance. The commission to the jeweller and sculptor Bernardino delle Croci by the brothers Francesco and Antonio Il Martinengo of Padernello dated to 1503, with a term of three years for completion. The tomb was to house the remains of Bernardino Martinengo, the father of the two, who had left a bequest towards the work on his death in 1501 or 1502. However, it was still unfinished in 1516, when delle Croci was commissioned per a new contract to finish it by January 1518. The causes for the delay appear to have been, firstly, a commercial dispute between the jeweller and the clients, and secondly the war of 1512, which surely slowed the work, even if not entirely stopping it. It was not until 1516, following the reconquest of Brescia by the Venetian republic, that a new definitive agreement was made. The documents are incomplete but in fact the monument was completed and installed within the Corpus Christi church, probably within the terms of the contract.
  The documentation of the various phrases of the construction makes no mention of anyone other than Bernardino delle Croci, but it is not clear if he really had the skills the create a sculptural structure of this type. A reappraisal of Brescian art of the period, as well as the clear evidence of the style, have led critics to assign to Cairano the execution of the stone parts of the monument, limiting delle Croci's involvement only to the bronze inserts. The jeweller, consequently, assumed the entire Martinengo commission but entrusted the parts outside his competence, most of the monument in fact, to the Cairano studio.
  Note that the final contract with delle Croci was in 1516 whereas Cairano was definitively dead in 1517: if Cairano indeed worked on the monument, it can be deduced from the documents that he would not have had sufficient time to finish it completely within the period, and consequently a large part of it must have been done before this date. This means admitting Cairano's involvement prior to 1516, which is not attested in the documents. Indeed, the same contract of 1516 asserts that the work was incomplete when installed in the church; it is unknown what its condition was at the time; and the remains of Bernardino Martinengo were already housed in it from the previous year. The implication is that the progress on the monument may have been near completion, at least in the structure and architectural components. The incompleteness alluded to in the documents of 1516 likely refer to the decorative inserts of various types, including the bronzes definitively due to della Croci.
  A thorough stylistic analysis of the ornamentation of the monument, in particular of the figures within the circles of the Battle scene and the Scene of sacrifice reveal a surprising sensitivity to bronze on the part of Cairano, and considerable scope for reinterpretation and commingling of styles. This stemmed from a sensible response to the context in which the mausoleum was designed and implemented. Unprecedented in Brescia was the combination of bronze and stone, the former under the supervision of Bernardino delle Croci who certainly had a vast catalogue of references to ancient and contemporary works, all of which are cited in the major and minor rounds on the base. It is difficult to exclude Cairano from the influence of so much classicism, but the sole Scene of sacrifice attests to the sophistication of his chisel and the innovative combination of sculpture and bronzes around 1510, to which date much of the remaining lapidary apparatus can also be placed.
caption: Martinengo mausoleum, Battle scene (post-1510)
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