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San Domenico:

Monument of Benedict XI (early 14th century)


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San Domenico: Main page     San Domenico Vecchio     Santo Stefano del Castellare

Exterior     Interior     Cappella di San Lorenzo    Monument of Benedict XI     

Art from the Complex     Convent


The Dominican Pope Benedict XI, who died in Perugia in July 1304, was buried in San Domenico Vecchio.  He wished to be buried “ne in alto poneretur, sed sub terra, ex magna humilitate quam habebat” (not up high, but under the ground, out of his great humility).  It seems that the wishes of Benedict XI were initially honoured: documents prepared in connection with his beatification in 1773 record that he was initially buried, like the friars themselves, in the pavement of the choir of the church.  

According to the Chronicle of St Antoninus of Florence, the decision to erect a monument was taken some time after the death of Benedict XI, when miracles were reported at his grave.  The document of 1773 mentioned above also said that it was built “some years later”: this source attributed the commissioning of it to the Dominican Cardinal Nicolò Alberti (died 1321), the ex-bishop of Spoleto, whom Benedict XI had raised to the purple in 1303.  It seems likely that the translation of the relics to this new monument in the choir was associated with a an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the canonisation of Benedict XI. 

The precise time at which the monument was built is a matter of dispute (see the references below):

  1. According to Giorgio Vasari, “Benedict XI having died in Perugia, a summons was sent to [Giovanni Pisano], who ... made a tomb of marble for that Pontiff in [San Domenico Vecchio].  Few if any scholars accept the attribution, but a number subscribe to the implied dating to a time before ca. 1315, when Giovanni Pisano died. 

  2. A second group date the monument on stylistic grounds to the late 1320s.  Some among this group attribute it to Ambrogio Maitani, who is documented in Perugia in 1317-46.

According to an account written in 1728, the monument was originally on the right wall of San Domenico Vecchio, where it was approached by three steps of red marble, protected by a metal grill and surmounted by a cross of gold.  It was moved to the left transept of San Domenico in the 18th century, at which point the relics were also installed behind the grate above the high altar.  It was restored and re-assembled in its current location (on the right wall of the Cappella degli Apostoli) in 1959.  

 
     

Benedict XI is depicted twice on his monument:

  1. He kneels in the tripartite upper tabernacle as St Dominic presents him to the Madonna and Child, while a bishop saint looks on from the right.  

  2. He lies in effigy on the sarcophagus, behind curtains drawn apart by angels, under a frieze that depicts six saints in relief (four above and one at each side): these include SS Peter, Paul and Peter Martyr.

The relief at the cusp of the surrounding tabernacle depicts Christ imparting His blessing.

The original inscription is embedded in the wall to the right of the monument.  (The text is reproduced in the first two references below).







Read more:

For the earlier dating of the monument, see for example:

F. Baldelli and C. Fratini, Il Monumento Funebre di Papa Benedetto XI nella Basilica di San Domenico a Perugia nel Contesto della Scultura Funeraria Italiana nella Prima Metà del XIV Secolo”, in

  1. A. Vignanò (Ed.), “Benedetto XI: Papa Domenicano (1240-1304)”, (2006) Florence

F. Baldelli and C. Fratini, Il Monumento Funebre a Papa Benedetto XI”, in

  1. A. Vignanò (Ed.), “Benedetto XI: Papa Domenicano (1240-1304)”, (2006) Florence


For the later dating of the monument, see for example:

  1. J. Gardner, “The Tomb and the Tiara: Curial Tomb Sculpture in Rome and Avignon in the Later Middle Ages”, (1992) Oxford


For the attribution to Ambrogio Matiani, which implies the later dating:

  1. E. Lunghi, “Ambrogio Maitani”, Schedules 28 and 29 in:

  2. C. Bon Valsassina and V. Garibaldi (Eds), “Dipinti, Sculture e Ceramiche della Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria: Studi e Restauri” (1994) Florence



San Domenico: Main page     San Domenico Vecchio     Santo Stefano del Castellare

Exterior     Interior     Cappella di San Lorenzo    Monument of Benedict XI     

Art from the Complex     Convent  


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