Andrea Ferrucci, Funerary monument of Marsilio Ficino

The funerary monument to the philosopher Marsilio Ficino (Figline Valdarno, Florence, 20 October 1433 - Careggi, Florence, 1 October 1499) was sculpted in 1521 by Andrea Ferrucci da Fiesole. The portrait bust of the deceased, in white marble, is placed in a red marble niche framed by an aedicule, with the epitaph panel below. The great Platonic scholar and leading figure of the Neoplatonic Medici academy of Careggi was also a canon of the Cathedral, and is portrayed in the robes of his role. His facial features – the sharp profile without beard - were taken from many existing portraits, including the famous one by Ghirlandaio in the Tornabuoni Chapel of Santa Maria Novella. The philosopher is imagined turning in contemplation towards the sunlight descending from the windows below the dome; in the artistic imagination, this transcends all as the light of the Divine, to which the thinker offers the large tome he holds in his hands - evidently his entire personal work. It is no coincidence that light takes on this importance in the monument, since in the Christian Neoplatonic philosophy of Ficino, the transcendent God is “seen” in the omnipresence of light.

The monument was created more than twenty years after Ficino's death, for political reasons involving the friendship between the philosopher and the Medici family. After the expulsion of Piero di Lorenzo Medici, but then the appointment of Giulio Medici as cardinal, the commissioning of a funerary monument to this great figure of Florentine culture became legitimate. This tribute added to the pantheon already established in the Cathedral aisles, in witness to the great protagonists in the history of Florence.