The tomb of the children of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany

The cathedral houses a masterpiece of the early French Renaissance, known as the Touraine Renaissance: the tomb of the children of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, Charles and Charles-Orland, who both died very young.

Tomb of the children of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, in the cathedral

The recumbent effigies, in the finest French tradition of the late 15th century, came from the workshops of the Tours sculptor Michel Colombe.

Close-up of the faces of the two children’s effigies in white marble
Effigy and angels in white marble above the base of the tomb

The base of the mausoleum, with its Italianate ornamentation, is the work of the Florentine Girolamo da Fiesole (Jérôme de Fiesole).
This Carrara marble tomb was originally placed in 1506 in the liturgical choir of the Basilica of Saint Martin. Saved during the Revolution, it was moved to the cathedral in 1834.

Marble base of the tomb, decorated with angels and carved motifs around a coat of arms
Detail of the carved relief on the base: two figures surrounded by scrolling foliage

For this reason, it was chosen to be shown at the Grand Palais in 2010, in the exhibition “France 1500, entre Moyen Âge et Renaissance” (France 1500, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance), as it is recognised as a major work of that period.

As the first Renaissance work in Touraine, this tomb is a work of transition that shows how the artistic tradition evolved in Touraine.