Tomb of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici

The tomb made for Cosimo il Vecchio’s two sons, Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici, was commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici after the death of his father, Piero, in 1469. The work is found in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. It stands under the transept arcade arch, near the old sacristy. According to contemporary accounts, the innovative tomb, which has no figurative decoration, soon attracted considerable interest. The materials used for the tomb were rather special: marble, serpentinite, pietra serena, porphyry, and bronze. In the iconography of the tomb, the ideas of its commissioner, Lorenzo de’ Medici, contributed greatly to the development of the symbolic elements.