Bartolomeo Colleoni

Bartolomeo Colleoni was a famous leader of a mercenary company in the 15th century, known as the Capitani di Ventura. He was originally from Bergamo and amassed a great fortune through his military activities. Colleoni switched sides several times, being hired by both Milan and Venice at different times in his career. In addition to his success on the battlefield, Colleoni had the ambition to become the Lord of Milan. For his own burial, he decided to build a chapel that would stand out in the square and be admired by all. The commission for this project fell to Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, a promising young architect of the time. The Colleoni Chapel, built in just five years starting in 1472, is an impressive funerary monument with spectacular decorations. Amadeo designed the chapel to surpass the neighboring Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in terms of visual impact. He used imagery that related Colleoni to heroes of antiquity, characters from the Old Testament, and symbols of Christian virtues. Even the rose window of the chapel has a wheel-of-fortune shape, representing the pinnacle of Bartolomeo's glory. In summary, Bartolomeo Colleoni was an ambitious and successful military leader, whose funerary monument, the Colleoni Chapel, is an impressive work of art filled with symbolism.