Cossovich Tomb

On a high stone plinth, decorated with geometric patterns, stands a throne on which lies a sleeping female figure in bronze, identifiable as a Vestal. The woman is wrapped in a long gown that leaves her breasts and arms uncovered, she wears shoes laced at the ankle and sits on an elaborate carpet, with a mosaic decoration. Her head is resting on her left arm while in her right hand she holds a small flask which, as Bellocchi noted, would have contained a potion that caused eternal sleep.
The body is soft, languid, abandoned on the rich carpet, helpless and now oblivious of earthly suffering. The multicoloured carpet is certainly the most striking feature of this sculpture: the fringes in the lower part are rendered with great realism and the mosaic decoration creates a strong chromatic impact. On the base stands a bronze candelabrum, decorated with fretwork. The area is bordered by elaborate cast iron railings.
The sculpture of the Sleeping Vestal is one of the most recurrent themes in Rendić's funerary art. Similar works, with minor variations, can be found in other cemeteries, such as in Cosala and Opatija, to name but a few.
The tomb was granted to Cav. Tommaso Cossovich in 1906, the year of his son Matteo's death. The patron, a sea captain and shipowner, owned the Tommaso Cossovich Società Anonima di Navigazione a Vapore, Trieste.