Bergamo, Cappella Colleoni

In 1472 Bartolomeo Colleoni, great commander and captain of the Republic of Venice, had the old sacristy of Santa Maria Maggiore demolished to make room for his sumptuous chapel-mausoleum. Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (Pavia, 1447-Milan, 1522; the architect of the Cathredral of Milan and of the Certosa of Pavia) was put in charge of the enterprise. The work took until the end of 1476 (fifteenth century).
The chapel adds features with Romanesque, Medieval and Gothic flavours to a typically Renaissance structure in an exquisitely decorative way, highlighted by the use of polychrome marble, in line with Amadeo's typically expressive style. The inside brings Amadeo's work together with some remarkable works of art from the eighteenth century. These are by the Lombard architect who designed the Tomb of the Colleonis in a Gothic form reinterpreted in Renaissance language (an interesting fact: until 1969 it was thought that the tomb was empty and they tried to find out where the bones had actually been placed, until, later that year, the mystery was resolved when they were found in one of the tomb's foundations). He also designed the Tomb of Medea Colleoni, daughter of Bartolomeo, who died in 1470. However, the frescos by G.B. Tiepolo which adorn the lunettes (episodes from Jesus' life and "Decollazione del Battista" or Beheading of the Baptist) and the crests (Strength, Justice, Charity and Faith) of the cupola, are from the eighteenth century.