tive moments ul' inspiratiuii wliilr lir lit ntlicr ^muisc- 

 mcnts fill his cla\s. Worries and |)fnur\- were tin- 

 inc\ital)le result. It was said that in order to eo\-i-r 

 his deljts he had to seU e\en his heloxed iiarp and 

 hence gi\c up his aeti\it\- as harpist at the eourt. 

 He died in poverty. 



Rega's work draws inspiration tVcjin the master of 

 ncoclassicism, .\ntonio Cancna. The same serene 

 |3crfection embodied in exquisitely modeled relief 

 eharacterizes Rega's creations. Gem engraver 1)\ 

 profession, he transposed the concepts ol' cameo cut- 

 ting to die engraving. A well-rounded plastiiitv with 

 a subtle interplay of chiaroscuro confer a high degree 

 of grace and cxprcssi\"eness to his portraits. 



His activity at the mint was confined to creating 

 and preparing the model for the obverse; '■'' the trans- 

 position to steel work was done by another, v<jmiger 

 artist, who specialized in die engraving. In a 

 petition to the king in 181 5,'-^' Perger mentions (he 

 fact that while he was able to do his own complete 

 die work, Rcga had to be helped bv (Jiov anni Martino 

 and Domenico Rebora, Ijoth skilled in the teclini(|ue 

 of steel engraving. This circmnstance helps rt-veal 

 whv all the coins and man\' ol the medals engraved 

 at the Naples mint after 1SI)4 were anonvnious. 

 Separate artists would be assigned to design the 

 obverse and reverse.'^" Some artists like Rega and 

 his successors would create only the model in plaster 

 (or the main ]3unches) and would direct tlie hnal exe- 

 cution while other, younger, or less important artists 

 actuallv linished the die sinkinu. When the prin( ipal 

 punches, i.e., the portrait for the obverse and the ecj.it 

 of arms for the reverse, prepared bv the two main en- 

 gra\'ers, were passed on to these minor artists, the 

 latter often completed the dies by directly engraving 

 the additional decorative elements. This s\stem ol 

 combining various punches (also adopted by tod.n's 

 coin engravers) results in such a close interrelation 

 between creative and executing artist that it is almost 

 impossible to draw a clear line between indivithial 

 creations. Artistic peculiarities, individual style, and 

 creative personalities are intermingled in a common 

 creative process. 



In ISn4 a "■contest" between I'ei^er and Reya w.is 

 dei ideil in the l.uter's f.ivor. Rega's project for the 

 piastra (lit;. 6'') w.is accepted and 3IIII ducats were 



i"'< Recorded arc liis dies for the i-, 5-, and ID-ientcsiini 

 pieces, 1813, with the portrait of .\Iurat. He afso created the 

 dies for the gold 20- and 40-lire pieces of 1813 and for the silver 

 coinage of that year. 



'■'^ Cf. .SiciLiANo, Mediittlii- X,ipit!,i,iti,\ p. 3. 



i5«CosKNTINi CioS (1914), vol. 4, no. 1, pp.22 23; iriN>:i k ri, 

 fl/.V(1939), pp. 50-51. 



i'^ C.\GI.\TI, Li- nwin-lr ,l,ll,- Dii, .Sinlir. I.isr. 5, p. 79, coin 5; 

 D'iNChRTi, /^/,V (1959), p. 02, i.jin 6: Davisi'okt, /•;«<../-,«» 



P.APER 33: ITALIAN COIN F.NtiR.WKKS SINCE IS(K) 

 COU-SSl" — G5 3 



fig. 6c). — \.\iM IS, 1 iKDiNANr) 1\'. pi.isna. ifioj '-.r 

 (Div. ol Niimisin.iiic s photo) 



]3aid for his work.''''' .\lthout;h using the same tech- 

 nirjue of the raised border adopted |)re\iousl\- by 

 Fencer, this coin displavs a siipeiior tre.itnient. The 

 massive liorder of the English ■'caitwheer' had fornu-d 

 an essential element in Pt'rger's |).ittern. in Rega's 

 composition it shrinks t(j a decorative elemetil,'-''' in- 

 dicated only by two concentric circles. The bust of 

 tlie king, to which Rega's classical sense of |)ro|)ortioil 

 added an unexpected beautv, e(Mnpletely occupies the 

 field of tlie coin and dominates the whole composi- 

 tion. In this portrait the same, strong, a(|uilinc fea- 

 tures of Ferdinand I\' which had ac(|uired almost an 

 etlect of caricature in Perger's version, seem to impart 

 nobility and ener^v- to the face of the monarch. On 

 the reverse, basicallv similar to Perger's desisjn, Rega 

 reduces the massiveness and accentuates the vertical 

 line of the composition. 



The change of regimi' in Naples in 1<S(I.S ditl not 

 hurt Rega's career; his merits were also recogtii/ed 

 bv the Bonapartes. In fact, in I )ecember 1806 Jose])h 

 Bonaparte conferred on him the title of Marslro 

 (Fimi^iiinr snjini jiiilir dm,' ( master of engraving) 

 at the Roval .\cadem\ of .\rls and Design in Naples.'"" 

 Rega, continued his activity at th<- mint. We assume 

 however, that the unsigned pi.istra of Jo.scph 



C)'i:rni, coin 1()2. 



r>Coi.eeer, liCW (19 1."!). p. 40. I'KorA and Moki.m.i 

 (pp. 3 25) mention that onlv 150 dm , its were p,iid to Michelc 

 .■\rnaud for the re\er.sc model. 



I"'" For a medal of 1807, sec RieerMdii, nied.il ~(t. Ri-u.i nsed 

 the s.une die, repl.K inu with a wTialli onlv llie inv lipiion uitliin 

 the border. 



!'■" .Srell.l \so, \lr,l,inlt,- \,iliiilrlan,\ p. 8. 



.■>:> 



