A TOMB AT RAVENNA 
he carved this figure of Guidarello in his last sleep. 
He may have been present when the warrior’s corpse 
was brought home from Imola amid the lamentations 
of the people and the tears of Benedetta. This at 
least is the impression that we receive from his work. 
The good knight lies on a richly draped bier, clad in a 
complete suit of armour, with his helmet on his brow 
and the collar of knighthood on his neck. The coat 
of mail is adorned with lion heads, and his hands, in 
their steel gauntlets, are folded over the long sword 
which reaches down to his feet. Only the vizor of 
his helmet is raised, and the dead warrior’s face is 
exposed to sight, as if it were but yesterday that the 
fatal blow had fallen and put an end to his life. The 
head has dropped a little on one side; the eyes are 
closed, and the lips parted with an expression of 
momentary pain, as if the bitterness of death had 
not quite passed away. “ I have never seen so mar¬ 
vellous a work of art! ” exclaimed the historian of 
Florence, Gino Capponi, when he stood before this 
tomb at Ravenna. “ The expression of the face gives 
the effect of a violent end with a truth and reality 
that are sublime beyond words. It is the very life 
of death.” 1 And so much did the Florentine patriot 
admire Tullio’s statue, that he kept a cast of Guida- 
rello’s head in his study to his dying day. 
1 Marco Tabbarini, Gino Capponi , p. 233. 
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