Grafmonument van Filippo Decio in het Camposanto te Pisa c. 1875 - 1900

This albumen print captures the tomb of the Renaissance jurist Filippo Decio, located in the Camposanto in Pisa. Gustave Eugène Chauffourier, the artist, was working in the latter half of the 19th century. Decio was a celebrated Milanese lawyer and academic, whose final resting place reflects the social standing he achieved through the institutions of law and higher learning. His tomb, replete with Latin inscription, presents him as a scholar, his effigy reclining with a book in hand. The monument is of course itself a cultural artifact, an idealized presentation of a life dedicated to civic duty and intellectual pursuit. To understand the image fully, we could delve into the archival records of the University of Pisa, explore the biographies of celebrated legal scholars, and trace the history of funerary art in Italy. Approaching art history in this way reminds us that artistic meaning is always shaped by, and reflective of, its unique historical moment.