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Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde

The Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde is a funerary monument by François Duquesnoy in the church of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome. The commission was secured through Pietro Pescatore, also known as De Visschere or Pieter Visscher, a Flemish merchant, and the site for the epitaph was granted on 3 August 1633. Visscher and Baldoin Breyel supervised the execution of the tomb, for which both had been friends of the deceased, a member of the Dutch community at Santa Maria dell'Anima. The monument was completed between 1633 and 1640. Its putti, especially the one on the right, were widely admired and became models for artists in Rome and northern Europe.

Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde with winged putti holding a draped banner above an inscribed marble plaque.
The Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde features two winged putti above a marble plaque in Santa Maria dell’Anima, Rome.
December 2017 © · CC BY 3.0
Coat of arms on the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde, with a shield flanked by swan-like figures and topped by a classical helmet crest.
The coat of arms on the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde features a shield with swan-like figures and a helmet crest.
February 2018 © Unknown authorUnknown author · CC BY-SA 4.0
Close-up of the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde showing engraved marble inscription and part of a draped sculptural element.
Detail of the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde, with engraved marble inscription and drapery above.
December 2017 © Sailko · CC BY-SA 4.0
Marble relief on the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde showing a putto peeking from beneath draped cloth beside inscribed text.
Close-up of the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde, with a putto emerging beneath drapery beside the inscription.
December 2017 © · CC BY 3.0
Close-up of light marble drapery with faint carved lettering on the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde.
A close-up detail of the Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde showing softly carved marble drapery and faint lettering.
December 2017 © Sailko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Identification

TitleTomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde
Typefunerary monument / epitaph / tomb

Historical context

Person commemoratedFerdinand van den Eynde
Subject's identityNetherlandish merchant and art collector from Antwerp
Subject's community in Romemember of the Dutch / Netherlandish expatriate community of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome
Family relationbrother of Jan van den Eynde, a Flemish merchant established in Naples and one of the richest men in the city and its most important art collector
Deathdied prematurely in Rome in 1630
Commemorated person's sonMarquis Ferdinando van den Eynde, art collector
Community connection of supervisorsboth were friends of the deceased and part of the Santa Maria dell'Anima milieu in Rome

Creator

SculptorFrançois Duquesnoy

Discovery and provenance

Supervisors of executionPietro Pescatore and Baldoin Breyel, both friends of Ferdinand van den Eynde
Commission facilitatorPietro Pescatore (also known as De Visschere or Pieter Visscher), a wealthy Flemish merchant and art lover who served in the administration of Santa Maria dell'Anima and helped Duquesnoy obtain the commission
Site granted bythe church administration
Commission dateprobably around 3 August 1633, when the church administration granted the site for the epitaph

Location and ownership

Current locationChurch of Santa Maria dell'Anima, Rome, Italy
Placement in churchon a pier / wall directly opposite the tomb of Adriaan Vrijburgh, built up against columns on either side
Related monumentthe tomb of Adriaan Vrijburgh (Vryburch)

History and restoration

Completion datebetween 1633 and 1640; Joachim von Sandrart noted it was finished after he left Rome in 1635

Physical characteristics

Materialmarble
Figurestwo putti
Formmonumental sculptural tomb with an epitaph

Appearance

Left puttoraises the drape and holds a long trumpet of Fame, mostly concealed beneath the cloth
Right puttomourns, covers part of its head and face with the drape, and holds an hourglass of death
Main decorative featuretwo putti composing the epitaph, especially the right-hand putto

Iconography and meaning

Bellori quotationBellori described the right-hand putto with the hourglass as "the most beautiful little putto that Franceso's chisel animated"
Estelle Lingo interpretationthe child's posture may reflect a struggle to lift the drape from the tomb and a response to criticism that its youth made it unfit for the monumental task
Rubens quotationRubens said the marble had been "softened into living flesh" and praised the beauty of the two putti for the epitaph of van den Eynde in the Chiesa dell'Anima
Interpretation of meaninga meditation on death and fame in which the viewer completes the monument’s meaning by discovering its veiled allusions and reading the inscription
Inscription featurethe putti raise the cloth to reveal the inscription
Cloth symbolismpartly veils the attributes and contributes to the tomb’s hidden allusions
Right putto meaninga childish personification of blind death

Significance

Artistic assessmentthe putti were considered the peak of the evolution of the putto in sculpture and one of Duquesnoy's greatest achievements
Critical praiseGiovanni Battista Passeri and Giovanni Pietro Bellori emphasized the fame of the putti
Praise by artistsPeter Paul Rubens and Johann Joachim Winckelmann praised the putti
Influencethe putti served as models of the ideal infant putto for contemporary artists
Copies and receptioncopies in plaster and wax were owned by many artists in Rome and Northern Europe, and the tomb was later widely admired and reproduced in drawing and painting
Recorded plaster castslisted in the studio inventories of Peter Verpoorten, Ercole Ferrata, Erasmus Quellinus II, and Peter Paul Rubens
Surviving drawingsdrawings by Johan Sylvius, Jean-Robert Ango, and Augustin Pajou