Hill, George Francis: A corpus of Italian medals of the Renaissance before Cellini: in 2 volumes (Volume 1): Text (London: British Museum, 1930)

BARTOLOMMEO BELLANO

540-1

crabbed and uncouth style of his medals is almost a caricature of certain Donatellesque
elements. The attribution to Bellano of medals other than those of Roselli and Cepola
is not borne out by the evidence of style.
The following bibliography deals only with his medals. For a full bibliography down to 1909, see the article by
Moschetti in Thieme-Becker. To this add A. Moschetti, Un quadriennio di Pietro Lombardo a Padova, Padua, 1914.
Vasari, Vite, ed. Milanesi, ii, p. 607. Bolzenthal, p. 60. Friedlander, Ital. Schaumunzen (1882), p. 81. Armand,
Medailleurs ital., i (1883), p. 46. B. Morsolin in Riv. Ital. di Numismatica, iii (1890), pp. 549-58. The same in Nuovo
Arch. Ven., viii (1894), pp. 198 f. Fabriczy, Ital. Medals (1904), pp. 60 ff. Forrer, Diet., i (1904), p. 157. A. Moschetti in
Thieme-Becker, Allg. Lex. d. bild. Kunstler, iii (1909), pp. 233-6. Hill in N. Chr. (1910), pp. 361-4 and in Burl. Mag., xxiv
(1914), p. 211; Forrer, Diet., vi (1916), p. 215 b. Hill, Med. Ren. (1920), p. 58. Habich, Med. d. ital. Ren. (1924), p. 60.
L. Planiscig, Andrea Riccio (1927), pp. 27-74, esP- P- 3^-

ROSELLI (Antonio), of Arezzo.
540. Obv. ANTONIVS DE ROSELLIS MONARCH
asapien TIG Bust 1., aged, wearing soft flat
cap with edge turned up, and loose robe; be-
hind, 91
Rev. CELITVM BENIVOLENTIA and in field
C V Semi-nude male figure (Roselli) with
loose drapery about his middle and over 1.
shoulder and arm, seated to front, head 1.,
r. hand raised in exhortation; the legs of the
seat end in dragons’ heads; the whole supported
by architectural bracket; inner circle of pearls.
Arm. I, 47, 3 (47 mm.). Fabr., p. 61. Hab., Pl. xxxii, 2.
[e. Pl. 98.]
(a} Berlin, 45 mm. Friedl., p. 82, Pl. xiv. (b, c} Bre-
scia (Brozzoni). Mazz. I, xxiv, 2. Rizz., nos. 76, 77.
(d} Florence, 46 mm. Sup., no. 54. Moderate. (4 Lon-
don (George III), / 47 mm. N. Chr. (1910), p. 363.
S.I.M., Pl. 16, 4. (/) Gustave Dreyfus, «- 47 mm.
(£•) T. W. Greene, 47 mm., ex Bardini.
The attribution to Bellano is recorded by Vasari (ed.
Milanesi, ii, p. 607). The spelling of the name approaches
that on his tomb (Roycellus}. The letters C. V. on the
reverse have not been explained, except by Milanesi (MS.)
as Clarissimus Vir, which is unlikely. It is just possible
that he was allowed to call himself C(ivis} V(enetus} at the
same time as he received the title Monarcha Sapientiae
from the Venetian Senate, i. e. in 1460 (Friedlander, p. 211).
As Bellano left the north in or shortly after 1461, and does
not seem to have returned to Padua until after Roselli’s
death on 16 Dec. ’1466, the medal may have been made
immediately after the conferment of the honour. The alter-
native is to suppose that it is posthumous. This later date
seems more probable, since it brings the medal closer to
that of Cepola. Roselli is generally supposed to have been
in his twenty-sixth year in 1407, and therefore to have
been born in 1381 or 1382 (B. Gonzati, Basil, di S. Ant.
di Padova, ii, 1853, p. 139 note, where, however, 1417 is
given in error in the text). It may, however, be regarded
as fairly certain that he was born earlier, in 1378 or
1379, on the evidence of the Florentine Portata al Catasto
(Arch, di Stato, Ruote 1433 S C), a c. 49: 1Mess(er) An-
tonio Roselli d’ Arezzo ’; c. 49 v°. ‘ Mess(er) Antonio
detto an(ni) 55’. Unless there is a mistake, the figures 91
behind his head cannot refer to his age, for he died on
16 Dec. 1466, so that he cannot have lived to be more
than 88. An error of three years in his age is, however,
not impossible.
Planiscig, for reasons which seem insufficient, denies
the authorship of Bellano for this medal, and suggests
that by its style it might be the work of Guidizani. The

resemblance to that artist’s medals is not obvious; on the
other hand if, as seems certain to me, the Roselli and
the Cepola are by the same hand, it is unlikely that the
two medals were made outside of Padua.
The supposed portrait of Roselli recumbent on the
cenotaph in S. Francesco at Arezzo appears to be a mere
invention of the artist; as Fabriczy has remarked, it bears
no resemblance to the portrait on the medal, but represents
a man of quite different features and in the prime of life;
nor is any explanation forthcoming of the three ‘portraits’
of doctors of law on the front of the sarcophagus (Jahrb.
Preuss. Kunstsammlungen, xxx, 1909, Beih., p. 15).
The monument of Roselli at Padua is not by Bellano,
but by Pietro Lombardo (A. Moschetti, Un quadriennio, &c.,
as above).

CEPOLA (Bartolommeo), of Verona.
541. Obv. BARTHOL°A\GVS • CGPOL • •>/•¥•!•
D*A*C Bust 1., wearing flat-topped cap with
edge turned up all round, and loose robe.
Rev. None.
Arm. II, 73, 17 (53 mm.). Burl. Mag., xxiv (1914), p. 211.
R. Pl. 98.]
(a} Paris, Tres. de Num. II, xli, 1. (Z») T. W. Greene,
53 mm. Burl. Mag., loc. cit. (c) Formerly Volpi
(Catal., New York, 1927), no. 307. Probably = Bar-
dini, Florence, 51 mm.
The letters after the name are for Veronensis Vtriusque
luris Doctor Advocatus Consistorialis.
In the curious crabbed treatment of the features, the
lettering (note the round G and the fanciful treatment of
one of the Vs), as well as in its general conception, this
resembles so closely the medal of Roselli that there can be
little doubt of their common authorship. Bellano and
Cepola (who died in 1475) were at Padua together from
1469 to 1472 or later.
No other medals have been reasonably attributed to
Bellano. Friedlander (p. 82) says that the reverse of the
Roselli medal is found combined with heads of Julius
Caesar (DIVMVLI; behind, a cornucopiae) and Agrippa
(M*AGRIPPA-L«F*COS*III’). It does not, of course,
follow that the obverses are by Bellano; and a specimen
of the two obverses combined (Coll. Pio Santamaria, Rome,
f 44 mm.) has certainly nothing to do with him.
Vasari (Zoc. cit.} says that Bellano made many medals,
especially that of Pope Paul II (Arm. I, 47,1) and those of
Antonio Rosello and Batista (sic} Platina (Arm. I, 47, 2).
No medal of Bartolommeo Platina has survived. The
attribution ot medals of Paul II to Bellano—judging from
surviving specimens—will not bear a moment’s critical
examination ; the evidence of Girolamo Gualdo of Vicenza
(middle of seventeenth century) on this subject is quite
worthless. (See N. Chr., 1910, pp. 361-4.)

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