The Church of The Incoronation of the Blessed Virgin

This church was built between 1586 and 1588 at the behest of Vespasiano and entrusted to the Friar Servants of Mary (commonly known as Servites) in Sabbioneta since the first half of the 15th century.

It was built on the site of a previous church dedicated to St. Nicolas built by the friars.

It is likely that it was modelled on the Church of the Incoronation in Lodi, built towards the end of the 15th century to a design by the School of Bramante.

It is interesting to highlight the fact that the octagonal design, intentionally and totally in contrast twith the decrees of the Council of Trent (that called for a Greek cross floor plan), harks back to the typical Lombardian church design.

Needless to say, the octagonal design is also ideal for a mausoleum! Externally the structure is powerful with reinforced and protruding corners. Facades are smooth and entirely in brickwork broken only by pairs of double light arched windows, by the interior galleries and the tambour.

The roof is supported by small brick pillars and crowned by a pirmacled lantern. In 1592 a bell tower and entrance avant-corps with a triple arched portico were added to the octagonal church. Two 18th century memorial plaques are set in the side walls of the entrance. The first commemorates the fact that the church was expropriated during the Napoleonic period and became property of the Sate in 1810.

It was then purchased by Donato Leone Forti, a jew who in 1826 gave it to the Church Trustees. The second plaque mentions that Cardinal Pirro Gonzaga (Vespasiano's uncle) was buried in the church. Inside the church, the first level includes a number of entrances and access doors, the organ, two chancels and five chapels. There is a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows in a curtained niche above the high altar (directly in front of the main entrance). This statue is the work of the Bolognese sculptor, Angelo Piò (1690-1770).

The four 18^th plaster altar frontals are also fine examples of this kind of work. Higher up, the second level, corresponding to the women's gallery with imitation marble pillars and plaques with biblical quotations on all four sides. The cupola is decorated to represent four balaustrades with arches opening to the ceiling and four urns. Painted niches contain Servite saints including Philip Benizzi, Peregrine Laziosi and Guiliana Falconieri.

The second female figure is not clearly identified but Blessed Valverde da Casalmaggiore has been suggested. Above this level we can see four trompe d'oeil pointed and four round windows.

The ceiling is decorated with coffers decreasing in size towards the lantern decorated with the dove representing the Holy Spirit. Vespasiano's original idea was to gild the entire interior of the cupola. The decoration that has come down to us is largely the work of Francesco Borelli from Ferrara who in 1769 had already decorated part of the cornice in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the Parish Church of Sabbioneta. In 1770 Borelli fell from the scaffolding probably while working on the Women's Gallery and died. His work was completed, at least as regards the first level, by Clemente Isacci from Viadana, an artist specialized in theatre scenery. Vespasiano's sepulchral monument is in the chapel to the left of the high altar and underneath this his tomb was discovered in 1988.

VESPASIANO' S MAUS0LEUM is the work of Giovanni Battista della Porta in 1592. It is built on a high base from which the tomb itself projects supported by two lion legs in marble and with a crested helmet on top. Two serpentine marble columns with Corinthian capitals support the recessed pediment with the bronze Ducal coat of arms at the centre. The three nitches thus created contain: in the centre a bronze statue of Vespasiano and at the sides, statues representing Justice and Strength.

The entire monument is an exact copy, apart from a few changes, of the tomb of Cardinal Nicolò Caetani in the Basilica of Loreto built around 1580 to a design by Francesco Capriani from Volterra. Della Porta made the two side statues, Faith and Charity, for this tomb. The Mausoleum in Sabbioneta contains many rare and precious types of marble selected personally by Vespasiano. It was he who ordered that the bronze statue should be placed above his tomb in the church. However, the entire structure is one of the more jarring elements in the entire artistic panorama of Sabbioneta. The statue in the central niche is way out of proportion (it was placed there only in 1656). But the overall architectural style of the tomb is ill matched with the rest of the church.

THE BRONZE STATUE of Vespasiano Gonzaga was executed by Leone Leoni in 1588. It calls to mind Michelangelo's Giuliano de' Medici or the statue of Marcus Aurelius formerly on the Campidoglio in Rome. In fact this statue is very much of a combination portrait of Marcus Aurelius and Vespasiano with his head slightly angled and his arm outstretched as if to model his city. Note that the statue's original location was to have been on a plinth in Piazza Ducale. The Roman look of the statue is obvious - the Roman breastplate and cloak (marks of prestige and fame) and the chair with Jupiter's thunderbolts.

Ancient and rare types of marble used for Vespasiano's tomb:

SIENA RED - the entire support base for the monument.

ANTIQUE YELLOW - the strip that acts as the base for pillar; the two griffins that support the tomb; the four "motili" above.

ANTIQUE AFRICAN - the entire sarcophagus.

SPANISH BROCCATELLO (Clouded Marble) - the pediment background above the tomb; the two keystonecorbelsforthelateralniches; the four triangles above the niche cornices.

ANTIQUEGREEN (Serpentino)-the two pillars; the strip below thepillars; the frieze above the pillars; the pediment tympanum

TOUCH STONE - the pediment with inscription.

MOSCATO D'ARDESE (Dappled) - the middle arch background.

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