rulers such as the isar of Russia and the kings of 

 England and Sardinia sought his services. 



His medals, like his cameos, show a perfection 

 oijtaincd only through a mastery of form combined 

 uiiii deep artistic insight. His j)ortrait of Pope 

 Gregory- XVI (fig. 35) is a good e.xample of his 

 al)ilily to impart majesty to a realistic likeness of a 

 high dignitary; the features seem to be suffused with 

 an inner glow of spirituality. 



Fig. 35. — P.APAL Rome, Gregory X\'I, medal, year XI 



[1842]; view of Claudian aqueduct " 



(Div. of Numismatics photo) 



Pietro Girometti. who died in London in 1859 at 

 the age of 47, was praised by Bolzenthal for the 

 excellence of his medallic work. Pietro contributed 

 little to coin engraving, but many fine works like 

 the medals of Bembo and Bruneleschi are his contri- 

 butions to the iconographic series of famous Italians, 

 an enterprise undertaken by his father with Nicolo 

 Cerbara. Umani thinks that Pietro, an excellent gem 

 cutter, might have been belter than even his father, 

 who was credited with many of Pietro's works since 

 both often signed only their last name.'* 



During the Pontificate of Pius VII (1800-1823), 

 two brothers from the Hamerani dynasty of cele- 

 brated coin engravers devoted their activity to the 

 Roman mint. Their names were linked to a glorious 

 tradition which went back to the sixteen hundreds, 

 when the Hermanskircher family of goldsmiths came 

 from Bavaria to Rome to place their professional 

 skill at the service of the popes. Among the many 

 gifted artists in the family were two women, Anna 

 Cecilia'' (1642-1678), who executed some Biljlical 

 scenes for gold candelabra in St. Peter's, and Beatrice '" 

 (1677-1704), a talented engraver who produced 

 during her short life many dies for seals and medals. 



The two brothers Gioacchino and Giovanni added 

 little to the renown of their ancestors*' possibly 

 because their choice of career was determined by a 

 rigid family tradition and not by individual talent. 



Gioacchino,^- the older brother (1761-1801), served 

 from 1789 as engraver at the Roman mint, achieving 

 in 1794 the title of "cameral" engraver in charge of 

 .dl coin and medal dies. Forrer states that his 

 work was "unfortunately poor,""*^ while Thiemc and 

 Becker are of the opinion that Gioacchino, like his 

 father Ferdinand, did very little work himself.** Many 

 coin dies during Pius VI's and Pius VH's pontificates 

 bear the complete signature G. hamer.ani, obviously 

 designating in later years only the younger brother 

 Giovanni Hamerani. 



Giovanni *^ (1763-1846) studied architecture at 

 the Academy in Parma, and in 1784 won the first 

 award with his plan for the library. After he and 

 his brother Gioacchino in 1796 sold the collection 

 of the Hamerani dies to the papal administration, 

 he decided to devote his time more to coin engraving 

 than to architecture. Following the death of his 

 brother, he took over the position of coin engraver 

 at the papal mint. His activity was divided between 

 the Roman mint and the Accadcmia di S. Luca, 

 where he served after 1810 as a professor of medallic 

 art. 



The artistic capacity of the two brothers was 

 limited to copying long-accepted coin types apparently 



" Patrignani, Gregorio Wl, medal 71. 



" Umani, .\umR (1943-1945), vols. 9-11, p. 62. 



"» TmiiME and Becker, vol. 1 5, p. 548. 



™ Loc. cit.: also Keary, British Museum Guide, p. 87, item 343. 



" Cf. J. Babelon, Medaille el medailleurs, p. 189: "Leur mfiritc 

 artistique n'cst pas transccndant." 



"2TniEME and Becker (vol. 15, p. 549) and Maktinori 

 (fasc. 19, p. 169; fasc. 21, p. 21) indicate that Gioacchino 

 Hamerani died in 1797 and that it was his brother Giovanni 

 who signed the later works with "cii." Both Serai- IM and Forrer 



consider Gioacchino the author of all the coin dies during the 

 first five years of Pius VH's pontificate and do not mention 

 (iiovanni at all. For the best study of the Hameranis, see 

 NoACK, Archiv fiir Medaillen- und Plakellenhmde (1921-1922), vol. 

 3, pp. 37-39. 



i*' BDM, vol. 2, p. 398. Bolzenthal (p. 270) also comments: 

 ". . . er war Mcdaillcur des Papstes Pius V'l, dessen Bildnisse 

 er wiederholt, abcr in sehr tadelhafter Manier hergestellt hat." 



*' Thieme and Becker, vol. 15, p. 549. 



"■'■ Ibid., pp. 548-549. 



18 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIBUTIONS 1 RO.M 1 UK .\H SLUM OF HISTORY .AND TEC:HNOLOGV 



