Death of St Louis

religious

In Mantua, the Gonzaga family marked their rapid ascent to prominence by commissioning in the church of San Francesco a large funerary chapel. The church was largely destroyed during World War II but fortunately the Gonzaga chapel survived. The Gonzaga chapel is the largest of the church's noble chapels, occupying the most prestigious location close to the apse.

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About the Artist

Serafino Serafini

1324 – 1393

Italian painter. He was born into a Modenese family of brick and terracotta manufacturers. Although associated with the brother of the artist Tommaso da Modena as early as 1346, he appears to have been involved with terracotta manufacture in the 1350s, a medium already associated with relief sculpture in Emilia. By 1361 he had moved to Ferrara, ruled, like Modena, by the Este family. By 1375 he was working at their court in Ferrara, whence he was summoned to work for the Gonzaga family in Mantua. For them he painted most of the frescoes of the Life of St Louis of Toulouse and the Passion (San Francesco, Mantua), although they were probably designed by Tommaso. The expressively characterized faces and plasticity of the figures clearly show Tommaso's inspiration, and the influence of the illuminator Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna can also be seen.

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