Venice - Colleoni Monument

(Local Name: Monumento di Colleoni) The monument to Colleoni is a brilliant piece of work from the Venetian Renaissance. The model was made by Andrea Verocchil (1481-88) but it was cast in bronze by Alessandro Leopardi in 1496. The splendor of the plinth, with its marble reliefs, is taken up by the vigor of the equestrian figure, so that one balances the other in complete harmony. The figure itself bears no resemblance to the real Bartolomeo Colleoni (1400-75) but is an evocation of what the "condottier" should ideally look like - proud and conscious of his power.

Colleoni had commanded the land forces of the Republic, thus managing to amass a huge fortune. On his deathbed he bequeathed all his possessions to the State on the condition that a monument to his memory be erected "in front of San Marco". As the State, which hitherto had never authorized a public memorial, did not want to lose the money, instructions were given for the monument to be erected in front of the Scuolo Grande di San Marco, the confraternity house of San Marco, which stands next to the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, since the dying man had failed to specify that his monument must be in front of the "Church" of San Marco!