DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68735#0260
PART VI
906 bis-g
portrait of the artist himself. The use of Greek is natural
on a medal of a humanist; Filarete also occasionally signed
his name in what he supposed to be Greek (Lazzaroni,
p. 10).
A portrait of Filelfo was at Tolentino, and was pre-
sumably the origin of the portrait in the Museum lovianum
(Elogia Vir. Doct., Basil., 1577, p. 30), where he wears
a laureate cap as on the medal.
MICHELOZZO MICHELOZZI
FLORENTINE sculptor, born about 1396, died in 1472.
Armand, Medailleurs italiens, III (1887), 3, a. Heiss, Medailleurs de la Renaissance, Florence, i (1891), pp. 23 f.
Fabriczy, Hal. Medals, pp. 114, 115.
906 bls. The only authority for any medallic work by
Michelozzo is Vasari (ed. Milanesi, viii, p. 96), who says
that he himself painted a portrait of Santi Bentivoglio,
illegitimate son of Ercole di Giovanni, as a young man in
conversation with Cosimo Vecchio; and this portrait was
done ‘dalla medaglia sua di mano di Michelozzo Michelozzi
scultore’. No medal of Santi Bentivoglio is extant, nor is
there reason to attribute any other medals to Michelozzo;
for that he made one of those of Cosimo Vecchio is a mere
conjecture. Vasari is not likely to have invented the medal
of Santi itself; and, until such a medal can be subjected to
criticism, it is unscientific to assume that Vasari, slight as
his authority may be, is incorrect in saying that it was the
work of Michelozzo. As to the date of the medal, it is
true that the conversation with Cosimo represented by
Vasari took place in 1445; but it does not follow, as
Fabriczy for instance infers, that the medal dated from that
year. Santi went to Bologna and lived to govern it until
1462; Michelozzo may have passed through Bologna on
his way to Milan to build the Cappella Portinari, which
was completed in 1462?
EARLY MEDICI MEDALS
MEDICI (Giovanni di Cosimo de’).
907. Obv. JOHANNES MEDICES COSMIPPF Bust
1., wearing dress with pleated front.
Rev. None.
Arm. II, 23, 5 (98 mm.). [a. Pl. 146.]
(a) Berlin, 95-6 mm. Arm., loc. cit. Friedl., p. 146,
no. 6, Pl. xxvii. Bode, Jahrb., xxv (1904), p. 11, note
2; Flor. Bildh?, p. 281, note. Trapesnikoff, p. 39,
Pl. xv, 1. (6) Formerly Heiss, 98 mm. Heiss, Flor., i,
p. 37, Pl. i, 5. Fabr., Pl. xxii, 4. Hab., Pl. li, 5.
MEDICI (Piero di Cosimo de’).
908. Obv. PETRVS MEDICES COSMI PPF Bust
r., wearing dress with pleated front.
Rev. None.
Arm. II, 23, 4 (98 mm.). [a. Pl. 146.]
(a) Milan (Med. Mun., Taverna), 98 mm. Arm., loc. cit.
Friedl., p. 146, no. 5, Pl. xxvii. Bode, Jahrb., xxv
(1904), pp. 11, note 2; Flor. Bildhr, p. 281, note. Tra-
pesnikoff, p. 30, Pl. xii, 1. (Z>) Formerly Heiss, 98 mm.
Heiss, Flor., i, p. 35, Pl. i, 4. Fabr., Pl. xxii, 4. Hab.,
Pl. li, 4.
These two medals, as Bode observes, are not the work
of Niccold Fiorentino, but probably of some sculptor. In
feeling and in pose they come close to such a bust as
Benedetto da Maiano’s Filippo Strozzi in the Louvre, and
they may well be the work of him or some one in his
neighbourhood. Benedetto was only in his twenties when
the medals were made. For they date from after 16 Mar.
1465, when the title Pater Patriae \nzs> posthumously con-
ferred on Cosimo Vecchio, but before 1469, when they
were reproduced in the same Laurentian MS. which shows
the portrait of their father (see no. 909). Both the Berlin
and the Milan specimens appear to be bad casts, and the
latter is probably late as well. Heiss’s specimens have
disappeared, and it is not possible to say whether they
were more than reproductions, somewhat cleaned up, of
the above-mentioned specimens.
MEDICI (Cosimo de’), il Vecchio.
909. Obv. MAGNVS COSMVS MEDICES PPP
Bust 1., aged, wearing flat cap, which broadens
out to the top; depression between the upper
part and the folded-up edge deeply sunk;
plain coat. Pearled border.
1 The above is written on the assumption that the text of Vasari, as printed in the first edition (1588) of the
Ragionamenti and later, is sound. In the passage in question Vasari informs the Duke that Francesco Count of Poppi
introduced to the Bentivoglio faction Santi the natural son of Ercole Bentivoglio, whom Ercole had acknowledged to
Francesco as his son, 1 (g gli disse) che grandemente lo somigliava’. The Prince then asks : ‘ Questo, che avete fatto qui
avanti a Cosimo, somiglia il ritratto di Santi?’ Vasari replies 'Signor si, che si ritrasse dalla medaglia sua di mano di
Michelozzo Michelozzi scultore; e per tornare a Santi’, &c. Now for the Prince to ask Vasari whether the youth whom
Vasari has painted as Santi resembles the portrait of Santi, is rather absurd. But, having just been told that the young
man resembled Ercole, it would have been natural for him to ask whether his face in the picture resembled the portrait of
Ercole, and for Vasari to reply that he had taken the likeness from a medal of the father whom he resembled so closely.
Now there is a medal (no. 961) of Ercole Bentivoglio (not Santi’s father, it is true, but his son); it is Florentine in style
and generally attributed to Niccold Fiorentino. Vasari might well have taken this for a medal of the elder Ercole, and
borrowed a suggestion from the portrait thereon for the features of young Santi. The words ‘e per tornare a Santi’
suggest that the person mentioned just before was not Santi. It is possible, therefore, that for ‘Santi’ in the Duke’s
question we should read ‘ Ercole ’.
[236]
906 bis-g
portrait of the artist himself. The use of Greek is natural
on a medal of a humanist; Filarete also occasionally signed
his name in what he supposed to be Greek (Lazzaroni,
p. 10).
A portrait of Filelfo was at Tolentino, and was pre-
sumably the origin of the portrait in the Museum lovianum
(Elogia Vir. Doct., Basil., 1577, p. 30), where he wears
a laureate cap as on the medal.
MICHELOZZO MICHELOZZI
FLORENTINE sculptor, born about 1396, died in 1472.
Armand, Medailleurs italiens, III (1887), 3, a. Heiss, Medailleurs de la Renaissance, Florence, i (1891), pp. 23 f.
Fabriczy, Hal. Medals, pp. 114, 115.
906 bls. The only authority for any medallic work by
Michelozzo is Vasari (ed. Milanesi, viii, p. 96), who says
that he himself painted a portrait of Santi Bentivoglio,
illegitimate son of Ercole di Giovanni, as a young man in
conversation with Cosimo Vecchio; and this portrait was
done ‘dalla medaglia sua di mano di Michelozzo Michelozzi
scultore’. No medal of Santi Bentivoglio is extant, nor is
there reason to attribute any other medals to Michelozzo;
for that he made one of those of Cosimo Vecchio is a mere
conjecture. Vasari is not likely to have invented the medal
of Santi itself; and, until such a medal can be subjected to
criticism, it is unscientific to assume that Vasari, slight as
his authority may be, is incorrect in saying that it was the
work of Michelozzo. As to the date of the medal, it is
true that the conversation with Cosimo represented by
Vasari took place in 1445; but it does not follow, as
Fabriczy for instance infers, that the medal dated from that
year. Santi went to Bologna and lived to govern it until
1462; Michelozzo may have passed through Bologna on
his way to Milan to build the Cappella Portinari, which
was completed in 1462?
EARLY MEDICI MEDALS
MEDICI (Giovanni di Cosimo de’).
907. Obv. JOHANNES MEDICES COSMIPPF Bust
1., wearing dress with pleated front.
Rev. None.
Arm. II, 23, 5 (98 mm.). [a. Pl. 146.]
(a) Berlin, 95-6 mm. Arm., loc. cit. Friedl., p. 146,
no. 6, Pl. xxvii. Bode, Jahrb., xxv (1904), p. 11, note
2; Flor. Bildh?, p. 281, note. Trapesnikoff, p. 39,
Pl. xv, 1. (6) Formerly Heiss, 98 mm. Heiss, Flor., i,
p. 37, Pl. i, 5. Fabr., Pl. xxii, 4. Hab., Pl. li, 5.
MEDICI (Piero di Cosimo de’).
908. Obv. PETRVS MEDICES COSMI PPF Bust
r., wearing dress with pleated front.
Rev. None.
Arm. II, 23, 4 (98 mm.). [a. Pl. 146.]
(a) Milan (Med. Mun., Taverna), 98 mm. Arm., loc. cit.
Friedl., p. 146, no. 5, Pl. xxvii. Bode, Jahrb., xxv
(1904), pp. 11, note 2; Flor. Bildhr, p. 281, note. Tra-
pesnikoff, p. 30, Pl. xii, 1. (Z>) Formerly Heiss, 98 mm.
Heiss, Flor., i, p. 35, Pl. i, 4. Fabr., Pl. xxii, 4. Hab.,
Pl. li, 4.
These two medals, as Bode observes, are not the work
of Niccold Fiorentino, but probably of some sculptor. In
feeling and in pose they come close to such a bust as
Benedetto da Maiano’s Filippo Strozzi in the Louvre, and
they may well be the work of him or some one in his
neighbourhood. Benedetto was only in his twenties when
the medals were made. For they date from after 16 Mar.
1465, when the title Pater Patriae \nzs> posthumously con-
ferred on Cosimo Vecchio, but before 1469, when they
were reproduced in the same Laurentian MS. which shows
the portrait of their father (see no. 909). Both the Berlin
and the Milan specimens appear to be bad casts, and the
latter is probably late as well. Heiss’s specimens have
disappeared, and it is not possible to say whether they
were more than reproductions, somewhat cleaned up, of
the above-mentioned specimens.
MEDICI (Cosimo de’), il Vecchio.
909. Obv. MAGNVS COSMVS MEDICES PPP
Bust 1., aged, wearing flat cap, which broadens
out to the top; depression between the upper
part and the folded-up edge deeply sunk;
plain coat. Pearled border.
1 The above is written on the assumption that the text of Vasari, as printed in the first edition (1588) of the
Ragionamenti and later, is sound. In the passage in question Vasari informs the Duke that Francesco Count of Poppi
introduced to the Bentivoglio faction Santi the natural son of Ercole Bentivoglio, whom Ercole had acknowledged to
Francesco as his son, 1 (g gli disse) che grandemente lo somigliava’. The Prince then asks : ‘ Questo, che avete fatto qui
avanti a Cosimo, somiglia il ritratto di Santi?’ Vasari replies 'Signor si, che si ritrasse dalla medaglia sua di mano di
Michelozzo Michelozzi scultore; e per tornare a Santi’, &c. Now for the Prince to ask Vasari whether the youth whom
Vasari has painted as Santi resembles the portrait of Santi, is rather absurd. But, having just been told that the young
man resembled Ercole, it would have been natural for him to ask whether his face in the picture resembled the portrait of
Ercole, and for Vasari to reply that he had taken the likeness from a medal of the father whom he resembled so closely.
Now there is a medal (no. 961) of Ercole Bentivoglio (not Santi’s father, it is true, but his son); it is Florentine in style
and generally attributed to Niccold Fiorentino. Vasari might well have taken this for a medal of the elder Ercole, and
borrowed a suggestion from the portrait thereon for the features of young Santi. The words ‘e per tornare a Santi’
suggest that the person mentioned just before was not Santi. It is possible, therefore, that for ‘Santi’ in the Duke’s
question we should read ‘ Ercole ’.
[236]