a wide outlook. The portrait Ijust of Victor Em- 

 manuel III (fig. 105) ranks among the king's best 

 likenesses. The artist represented the sovereign as 

 his people always knew him — in uniform. The sober, 

 dignified features reveal a subtle portraitist. The 

 rever.se allegory of Italia with the plow, PArtilrke, is a 

 pleasant innovation. Far from perfect, with slitrht 

 defects in the modeling of the arm and the unnaturally 

 twisted leg, this otherwise harmonious composition 

 is a blond of poetry and realism. 



Fig. 105. — Italy, \'ictor Emm.anuel III, 100 lire, igia 2^^ 

 (.'\uthor's photo) 



Its sculptor and engraver, Egidio Boninsegna,^'' 

 who was educated in Rome (where in 1896 he won 

 the first prize at the Academy) worked chiefly for 

 Johnson's medallic establishment. In addition to 

 many sculptures and funeral monuments, he also 

 created good portrait medals, such as the ones of 

 Pope Leo XIII and of the numismatist S. Ambrosoli. 



Among Boninsegna's contemporaries was one of the 

 originators of the new movement — the sculptor, en- 

 graver, and painter Domenico Trentacoste.-^' Born 

 in 1859 in Palermo, he studied art in Italy and abroad. 

 In 1880 he went to Paris, where he opened his own 

 studio two years later. In 1891 London became his 

 next residence, ijut in a few years he established his 

 home finally in Florence. Trcntacoste participated 

 successfull)- in 1894 at the International E.xhibit in 

 \'ienna and in 1895 at the Biennak of Venice. In 

 later years he filled the post of director at the Academy 

 of Art in Florence. Practically blind during the last 

 years of his life, he died in Florence in 1933. 



This sculptor was commissioned to design the models 

 for the jubilee coinage of 1911, commemorating the 



50th anniversary of the founding of the Italian King- 

 dom.-'^ The two types, the bare head of the king 

 facing left and the allegoric group of Italia and Roma, 

 were adopted for the gold 50 lire and the silver 5 lire 

 (fig. 106). Surprisingly, the two compositions do not 

 reveal the sculptor: the reliefs of both obverse and 

 reverse are flat and insignificant. While the head of 

 the king is reminiscent of .Speranza's portrait of 1901 

 (fig. 102), the reverse allegory betrays a strong French 

 influence in the style of Roty and Chaplain. The 

 meaningless emphasis on an allegoric group, popular 

 with medals of that period, renders this reverse weighty 

 and inappropriate for coins. Undoubtedly the com- 

 position, called "Italia Marinara," has a certaiti 

 sculptural value, but reduced to the minute diameter 

 of a coin, it results in an unclear and cluttered design. 

 Details with symbolic meaning have become a puz- 

 zling map-design in the background. 



Fig. 106. — Ir.\LV. \'icTOR Em.\i.\-nuel III. 5 lire, igii -*" 

 (Div. of Numismatics photo) 



Jean Babelon suggests the prerequisites of allegory: 

 "A symbol is a reminder or a suggestion; it is not a 

 complete description. The evocative force of a well- 

 chosen detail surpasses that of a whole scene, meticu- 

 lously narrated. . . . This intellectual subtlety, re- 

 quired from the artist as well as from his public, is 

 the noble tide of the art which we study here." -''' 



Fondness for heroic figures seems to characterize 

 the period inuiiediately preceding World War I. 

 Undoubtedly Davide Calandra's attempt to express 

 national grandeur found dignified expression in the 



2^'"' Pagani, Moiuie ilaltane, coin 954; Carbonkri, pp. 511- 

 512; D'Incerti, R!N (1956), vol. 4, p. 121. 



-'" TuiEME and Bkcker, vol. 4, p. 300; Vollmer, vol. 1, 

 p. 262. For some of his medals, sec: Nataletti and Pagani, 

 p. 58; Dclle nifdriglie e placheltr, pis. 6, 8, 18, 21. 



2i^BDAf, vol. 6, p. 132, and vol. 8, p. 238; Tiiieme and 

 Becker, vol. 33, p. 377. 



23» Pagani, Prore e prngrlli, coins 168, 218, 239; Gnecchi, 

 Rl.V (1911), p. 364; Carboneri, pp. 440-441, 515. 



-"> Pagani, Moiifle ilatiane, coin 1020; Spaziani-Test.v, Casa 

 Savoia, coin 209; Davenport, F.uropean Crowns, coin 143. 



2^1 Lti mednilU et Irs medaiUfurs, p. 223. 



48 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRII3L "llONS FROM 1 HE MUSEUM OF HISTORY' .AND TECHNOLOGY 



