Recumbent effigy of Gaston de Foix

The recumbent effigy of Gaston de
Foix is the principal piece of the sculptures from the funerary monument to
Gaston de Foix, a masterpiece by Agostino Busti known as Bambaia, now exhibited
in the Museum's Sala degli Scarlion The tomb was to be erected in honour of
French military leader Gaston de Foix, who died in Ravenna in 1512, and it was
intended for Santa Marta, a favourite church of the French, where the hero’s
body had been taken after the funeral. From documentation regarding the
Monument, we know that it must have been a very demanding task, and it was
estimated to require at least four to six years of work. The commission
probably came directly from the King and the confirmation for this comes
precisely from Bambaia who, in his will written on April 25th 1528, speaks of
credit outstanding with the "Most Christian King of France" (Francois
I) for the tomb he made but had not yet finished. Thanks to these words of
Bambaia we can say with certainty that the monument remained unfinished, as
also confirmed by Vasari in his "Lives". In the church of Santa Marta
the sculptures were found around the sculptural effigy of the recumbent Gaston
de Foix, without any connection between them: standing female characters, seated
male figures ,small pillars of various sizes decorated with trophies, narrative
reliefs with scenes of war, all of masterly execution and piled on the ground,
simply because the piece had never been assembled. For this reason, putting
together the twenty sculptures destined for the funeral monument is very
problematic, given that there is no certain information on how the tomb was to
have appeared in its final version.

If we look at the sculptures that have survived - the recumbent effigy, the
sequence of the apostles, the female figures and the reliefs that narrate the
deceased’s life - we can see the element of political manifesto of the tomb,
aimed at celebrating the deeds and the earthly glory of the young marshal of
France. The sculptural language of Bambaia marries the knowledge of classical
art acquired in his time in Rome with the great lesson of Leonardo,
recognisable in the eloquent gestures and expressiveness of his characters.