DOI issue:
Faculty of archeology, history and letters
DOI article:Hill, George Francis: The Roman medallists of the Renaissance to the time of Leo X
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70028#0065
The Roman Medallists of the Renaissance.
45
Inquisition. This general conclusion has certainly more attractiveness
than some of the arguments by which it is reached. The last word has
not been said on the puzzle ; meanwhile it remains one of the most
curious products of Italian (probably, to be more precise, of Roman) art
at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century.1
The brief reign of Pius III. (22 Sept.—18 Oct., 1503) is not illustrated
by any contemporary medals.2 Julius II., on the other hand, patronised
the medallic as he did the other arts. We have already mentioned the
name of Caradosso.3 Crist of oro Caradosso Foppa was the son of Gian
Maffeo Foppa of Milan, and was born about 1452. Down to the time of
the fall of Lodovico il Moro, and perhaps even later, he worked chiefly
in Milan, though he travelled frequently, executing commissions for his
prince, as when in 1495 he went to Florence to buy works of art from the
Medici collection. In December, 1505, we find him in Rome, where he
was to remain in the employment of Julius II., Leo X., Hadrian VI. and
Clement VII. They employed him as goldsmith, setter and valuer of
gems, and generally as their adviser in regard to antiques, but also,
it would seem, as medallist. He died some time between 6 Dec., 1526,
and 1 April, 1527.
The attribution to Caradosso of medals cast and coins engraved during
his Milanese period is beset with uncertainties, and, to tell the truth, the
identification of his work after he came to Rome is hardly less precarious.
Most authorities agree in assigning to him the beautiful series of portrait
coins or testoons of Giangaleazzo Maria, Lodovico il Moro, and Beatrice
d’Este—pieces which easily take rank as the most beautiful portrait coins
of modern times.4 These seem to carry with them a set of eleven
small medals, struck from dies, and of coin-like technique, which must have
been made during the tenure of the Milanese dukedom by Louis XII.,
and bear the portraits of Louis himself, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Francesco
1 All the specimens other than the one found at Fourvieres and now in the Paris
Cabinet seem to have been cast from that one.
2 Unless one recorded by Armand (iii. p. 197, A) is contemporary. The inscription
Optimo principi occupies the field of the reverse. I have not seen it.
3 Summary of his career, with bibliography, in Thieme-Becker’s Allgem. Lex. d.
bild. Kiinstler. See also F. Malaguzzi Valeri’s sanely sceptical account in La Corte di
Lodovico il Moro, vol. iii. (1917) pp. 325 fl.
4 Some, or perhaps all, of the portrait coins of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Bona of
Savoy, on the other hand, are from designs by Zanetto Bugatto, the dies being cut by
Francesco da Mantova and Maffeo da Civate or his son Ambrogio. See F. Malaguzzi
Valeri, op. cit. pp. 358-9.
45
Inquisition. This general conclusion has certainly more attractiveness
than some of the arguments by which it is reached. The last word has
not been said on the puzzle ; meanwhile it remains one of the most
curious products of Italian (probably, to be more precise, of Roman) art
at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century.1
The brief reign of Pius III. (22 Sept.—18 Oct., 1503) is not illustrated
by any contemporary medals.2 Julius II., on the other hand, patronised
the medallic as he did the other arts. We have already mentioned the
name of Caradosso.3 Crist of oro Caradosso Foppa was the son of Gian
Maffeo Foppa of Milan, and was born about 1452. Down to the time of
the fall of Lodovico il Moro, and perhaps even later, he worked chiefly
in Milan, though he travelled frequently, executing commissions for his
prince, as when in 1495 he went to Florence to buy works of art from the
Medici collection. In December, 1505, we find him in Rome, where he
was to remain in the employment of Julius II., Leo X., Hadrian VI. and
Clement VII. They employed him as goldsmith, setter and valuer of
gems, and generally as their adviser in regard to antiques, but also,
it would seem, as medallist. He died some time between 6 Dec., 1526,
and 1 April, 1527.
The attribution to Caradosso of medals cast and coins engraved during
his Milanese period is beset with uncertainties, and, to tell the truth, the
identification of his work after he came to Rome is hardly less precarious.
Most authorities agree in assigning to him the beautiful series of portrait
coins or testoons of Giangaleazzo Maria, Lodovico il Moro, and Beatrice
d’Este—pieces which easily take rank as the most beautiful portrait coins
of modern times.4 These seem to carry with them a set of eleven
small medals, struck from dies, and of coin-like technique, which must have
been made during the tenure of the Milanese dukedom by Louis XII.,
and bear the portraits of Louis himself, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Francesco
1 All the specimens other than the one found at Fourvieres and now in the Paris
Cabinet seem to have been cast from that one.
2 Unless one recorded by Armand (iii. p. 197, A) is contemporary. The inscription
Optimo principi occupies the field of the reverse. I have not seen it.
3 Summary of his career, with bibliography, in Thieme-Becker’s Allgem. Lex. d.
bild. Kiinstler. See also F. Malaguzzi Valeri’s sanely sceptical account in La Corte di
Lodovico il Moro, vol. iii. (1917) pp. 325 fl.
4 Some, or perhaps all, of the portrait coins of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Bona of
Savoy, on the other hand, are from designs by Zanetto Bugatto, the dies being cut by
Francesco da Mantova and Maffeo da Civate or his son Ambrogio. See F. Malaguzzi
Valeri, op. cit. pp. 358-9.