Posted 3 years ago
vintagelamp
(1097 items)
This poem was written by Mary J. (Thaw) Thompson 1856-1944 Pittsburgh PA ( Mrs. William Reed Thompson) during on of her travels in 1910-1911 and illuminated by a Miss Webb in Mystic, Connecticut in 1930, according to the history written on the back by Mrs. Thompson's daughter, Mrs. Thompson, was inspired by the tomb of Ilaria Carretta as well as her story. Mrs. Thompson was associated with Vassar college, from article found on the internet. Mrs. Thompson's daugher gifted the illuminated poem to Lorenzo Malfatti, legendary opera coach whose family was from Lucca, Italy where the tomb is located.
Ilaria Carretta ( The subject of the poem) was married to Paolo Guinigi:
Paolo Guinigi (c. 1372 - 1432) was a lord of Lucca, Italy from 1400 until 1430. He was known as the "Tyrant Of Lucca."
Paolo was born in Lucca in 1372. He was the youngest son of Francesco Guinigi, member of one of the most outstanding families of Lucca. He was sent to London in 1389 and then to Flanders (1390–1392) to care for the family's affairs. In 1392, he entered Lucca's General Council and later held the position of Anziano (Elder). He fought against his brother, Antonio Guinigi, who had killed the head of the family, his elder brother Lazzaro. Another brother Bartolomeo and others died in a plague which had struck Lucca. Paolo also fell ill. Paolo became the effective lord of Lucca on 21 November 1400 when he received the titles of Capitano e Difensore del Popolo.
Guinigi married Ilaria del Carretto, a member of a noble Ligurian family, who gave him a son, Ladislao. She too died early, in 1406, and Paolo Guinigi commissioned to sculptor Jacopo della Quercia a funerary monument, now housed in the Cathedral of Lucca
From the internet regarding sculpter of tomb:
Jacopo della Quercia , sculpter, was in Lucca in 1406, he received the commission from the city's ruler, Paolo Guinigi, to begin work at the tomb of his second wife Ilaria del Carretto in the Lucca cathedral. The richly dressed woman rests on top of the sarcophagus, delicately portrayed in a Gothic fashion, with her dog, symbol of conjugate fidelity, at her feet. But his use of several nude putti at the flanks of the tomb clearly shows the classical influence of the Roman sarcophagi at Camposanto (Pisa). This is a first, a harbinger of the incipient Renaissance.
