There arc no siynccl medals of a similar design 

 which could help us dcicrniinc the artist, but the 

 psychological finesse and the plastic vigor in express- 

 ing individual traits point strongly toward Carriello 

 as the probable author. The daring of the artist to 

 present his king as a good-natured but uncouth 

 character, resembling more a Dutch sailor than a high 

 potentate, apparently did not meet the approval of 

 the court. After three years this portrait was re- 

 placed with another anonymtjus portrait (fig. 91), 

 which had already been in use since 1851 on two 

 larger denominations, the sil\-er piastres and the 

 copper 10-tari pieces. 



Fig. 91. — N.APLES, Ferdinand II, piastra, 1857--° 

 (Div. of Numismatics photo) 



This design, the last portrait of the king, is distinc- 

 ti\ely different from all the previous ones. The treat- 

 ment of the beard, in wavy instead of curly lines, and 

 the severe expression of the aging monarch can be 

 traced only to a single medal of 1855, signed by De 

 Cecil (fig. 92). Whether in fact De Cecli can be 

 considered as the author of this new version or whether 

 De Cecil's medal was only a copy of a portrait created 

 by another artist we cannot establish, since De Cecli 

 appears otherwise to be completely unknown. 

 C^osentini mentions scores of engravers for 1861 but 

 De Cecil's name is not among them.-"' 



.•\nothcr artist who enjoyed a high reputation at the 

 court was Luigi Arnaud."- Born in Naples in 1817, 

 he was the son of engraver Achille Arnaud. Luigi 

 had his first art training in his father's shop, which 

 he soon took over, while still a very young man, at 

 his father's death. In 1845 he was given the oppor- 

 tunity to engrave a medal commemorating the visit 

 of Tsar Nicholas I to Naples.-''' He followed it the 



next vear bv another, large, showy medal, this lime 

 for the opening of the Caserta railroad (fig. 95). 



The stately but otherwise lifeless portrait of the 

 king used on both medals gained him the esteem of 



^ 



/ 



Fig. 92. — Naples, Ferdinand 11, medal commemoraiing the 



new harbor of Bari, 1855 ''^ 



(Photo from Ricciardi) 



the royal court and, after a Ijrief interim at Rome, 

 where he had gone to study cameo engraving, he was 

 appointed second engraver of ob\erses in 1847. .'\p- 



»»Cagiati, fa.sc. 5, coin 36; D'Incerti, RL\ (1959), p. 128, 

 coin 200; Dax'enport, European Crowns, coin 175. 



-2' CosENTiNi, CagS (1914), pp. 23-25. Repeated in Horelli, 

 \umR (1936), vol. 2, p. 107. 



■'■ For details, see: .Siciliano, Medaglie .\<ipolelane, 

 BoREi.i.i, .\wnR (1940), vol. 6, p, 86. 

 2-3 Ricciardi, medal 180. 

 -•=< Ibid., medal 214. 



P- 



42 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIRTTIONS FROM THE MISEIM OF HISTORY .AND TECHNOLOGY 



