Tomb of Jacopo Sannazaro

Santa Maria del Parto was founded by Jacopo Sannazaro, on land (Mergellina) donated to him by King Frederick I of Aragon in 1497. Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530) was an Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples. His tomb, made by Montorsoli assisted by Ammanati, is in the church.

At the sides, under the sarcophagus, are seated figures of Apollo and Minerva, in the centre is a mythological relief with Pan, Marsyas, Euterpe, Neptune and Amphitrite, and at the top is the laureated bust of Sannazaro, between two putti balanced on the lid of the sarcophagus.

An epitaph by the Venetian cardinal Pietro Bembo, secretary to Pope Leo X, on the tomb base reads: "From flower to sacred ashes, here lies the famous and sincere Sannazaro, near to Virgil in poetry as in sepulchre." Virgil's tomb is found nearby in Naples.

Both Montorsoli and Ammanati worked under the spell of Michelangelo, whose statue of Giuliano de'Medici was adopted by Ammanati as the basis of the Apollo on the tomb. Montorsoli's two putti on the sarcophagus, each with its outer arm thrown expansively across the body, also stem from Michelangelo. The bust was worked up by Montorsoli from a cast of the poet's face and skull.