Monument to Lancino Curzio Detail of

The Monument to Lancino Curzio, a Milanese poet who
died on 2nd February 1512, was commissioned by the poet's brother and destined
for the church of San Marco in Milan. This stele, datable
to 1515, is the first known work by Bambaia, here helped by Cristoforo Lombardo
known as Lombardino. At the time of this monument Bambaia was already over
thirty years of age and was an expert artist and certainly well known in the
intellectual circles of Milan, given that he was entrusted with the task of
celebrating a poet so famous at the time. The Monument to Curzio Lancino is
therefore not the artist's first work, but his preceding activity is still
unknown today. The Monument shows the artist's mature sculptural abilities and
in-depth knowledge of the classical repertoire, obtained thanks to his study
trip to Rome between 1513 and 1514. Bambaia's mastery in working with marble
demonstrated in this stele dedicated to Lancino Curzio had also aroused the admiration
of Vasari, who remembered him in his "Lives”.

It is interesting to note the pagan spirit that characterises the
monument: any reference to the Christian afterlife is cancelled in favour of
references to the classical Olympus, with the Graces, winged Pegasi and female
allegorical figures. The figure at the top
of the monument has been identified as Fame, probably suggesting that the only
possibility of life after death is entrusted to a man’s works and to the fame
that follows