18 



KNOWLEDGE 



[January 1, 1R96. 



if we may judge by the number of attempts ; but it is 

 hardly too much to say that Pasti has succeeded in 

 adapting tlie view to tlie allotted space, and in catching 

 the true perspective of the rugged keep and towers, where 

 ninety -nine out of a hundred would have failed. 



Sperandio of Jklantuii worked in the latter half of the 

 fifteenth century, and stands some way behind the two 

 artists already mentioned, except in the excellence of his 

 portraits. It will he sullicient to notice his bust of 

 Federigo del Montefoltro, Duke of Urbino (Fig. 5).' 

 The reverse of the medal, representing the duke on 

 horseback, is vigorous, but the proportions of the 

 figures are not as good as they might be. Before 

 leaving this period we may notice another portrait, 

 that of GiCvanui Tornabuoni (Fig. 7). Unlike the 

 men already mentioned, Tornabuoni was a peaceful citizen 

 of Florence, of one of that city's most distinguished 

 families. The modelling of the face, and notably the 

 delineation of the eye, is excellent. The reverse, which 

 is remarkable for its fine simplicity, represents Hope looking 

 up at the symbol of the Trinity. 



It has been rightly remarked that there is a distinct line 

 traceable between the work of the fifteenth century and that 

 of the sixteenth. We pass in a.d. 1500 from a series of 

 medals which are, as a rule, large in size, simple in 

 treatment — in fact, so many small pieces of sculpture in 

 relief — to a series which are smaller in size, more 

 elaborate and sometimes even finicking in treatment, and 

 frequently under the influence of painting.! There is, in 

 fact, a (hfference between the medallic work of the fifteenth 

 and sixteenth centuries more or less parallel to that 

 between Greek sculpture of the fifth century and the 

 work of the age succeeding Alexander the Great. Great 

 skill in pure technique goes side by side with, or, rather, is 

 the cause of this change in character. The number of 

 medalUsts naturally becomes larger : Francesco Francia, 

 the painter ; Benveuuto Cellini, the sculptor and chaser ; 

 Valerie Belli, Annibale Fontana, Lione Lioni, Pomedello, 

 Pastorino of Siena, C'avino the Paduan, Federigo 

 Bonzagna, are only a few of the more famous names. 

 Some of these artists did work which in style cannot 

 be strictly separated from that of their predecessors 

 of the fifteenth century. A good instance is the portrait 

 by Pomedello of an unknown lady (Fig. 0). On the 

 obverse, the simplicity of treatment, the partition of the 

 relief into masses contrasting sharply with each other and 

 with the background, and not fading into each other, is 

 characteristic of the earlier period. When we analyse the 

 relief we find it to consist of three main parts — face, hair, 

 and bust, the throat being subordinate in efi'ect. Yet, in 

 spite of this clear demarcation of parts, the whole relief is 

 perfectly harmonious, and no part is treated so much in 

 detail as to draw the attention away from the rest. This 

 simplicity, one might almost say naircte, of composition 

 becomes rarer as time goes on. The reverse of this very 

 medal, finely conceived as it is, seems to belong to another 

 period in its elaborate richness of design and crowded field. 

 Pomedello, then, is to be regarded as representing the 

 transition from the fifteenth to the sixteenth century. 



* Federigo is one of tlie too rare redeeming characters of his 

 age; an entluisiastic jiatron of the arts and sciences, a general 

 unrivalled in the art of war as it was understood in his day, a plain 

 dealer; in fact, a model prince, and none the less a model husband. 



t As Keary {British Museum Guide to the Exhibition of Italian 

 Medals, p. xi.) remarks : " At the beginning of the fifteenth centurv 

 thc early school of Italian sculpture reached its higliest point of 

 beauty in the hands of Ghiberti (13761455), and of Donatello (1386- 

 1466). . . . After tlie time of Donatello the painters descrvetUv 

 outweighed the sculptors as a body in public estimation." 



A famous medal by Annibale Fontana, who died in 1587, 

 and is also known as a sculjitor and gem engraver, takes 

 us I'lii'ther on into the style of the sixteenth century. The 

 portrait is that of another and later d'Avalos, Mai'quis of 

 Pescara, a well-known general and author. The work errs 

 by over-elaboration, particularly as regards the drapery of 

 the bust, in comparison with which the head is almost 

 insignificant. The reverse (Fig. H) represents Hercules, 

 with his foot on the dragon, plucking the apples of the 

 llcsperides. An elaborate landscape, with the sun rising 

 over a city, is seen in the background. The detail is 

 admirable, but out of place ; the fine proportions of the 

 main figure only lose by being set against such a back- 

 ground. In a painting — and it is a painting which the 

 work suggests — that background could have been made to 

 take its proper place ; in a relief, the absence of colouring 

 makes this impossible. The "pictorial" treatment of a 

 subject in a relief may lend it considerable charm ; but 

 the artist here has not understood the limits of his art. 

 The unknown maker of the medal of Antonio de Leyva 

 (Fig. 11) has succeeded better. In this piece there is not 

 the same discord between the figure of b'ame in the 

 foreground, and the landscape — hardly less elaborate 

 (considering the smaller size of the inedal) than that of 

 Fontana — behind it. The portrait of Dc Leyva, again, is 

 a beautiful example of the pictorial treatment of a bust. 

 Its date is some time between 1.533 and 15.S6. 



One of the most prolific of portrait medallists in this age 

 was Pastorino de' Pastorini, a native of Siena. A large 

 number of his medals have no reverse, and the character 

 of the obverses hardly leads us to expect any great 

 originality in design. The portraits are admirably finished, 

 but, as in the work of most artists who devote themselves 

 chiefly to portraiture, they tend to become a little 

 mechanical. One of his most pleasing busts is that of 

 Buenaventura di Gruamonte (Fig. 9), dated 1557. 

 Pastorino died about 1591. 



There is one class of Italian medals which has been a 

 source of considerable trouble to collectors of Roman coins ; 

 these are the so-called " Paduans." It was at Padua that 

 the earliest knowu Italian medals were made in 1390, and 

 at this ancient university city lived Petrarca, the first man 

 who is known to have collected Eoman coins. In 1300 

 the lords of Padua had two medals struck bearing their 

 likenesses, but in style resembling Eoman bronze coins ; 

 but the medals known especially as "Paduans" are the 

 careful imitations made by Giovanni Cavino and Alessandro 

 Bassiano in the sixteenth century. Very often these 

 imitations are so skilful that only an eye long experienced 

 in the Italian style can distinguish them from originals. 

 The difficulty is sufficiently illustrated by the Paduan 

 medal of x\grippina the Elder (Fig. 13), which we give side 

 by side with the Roman coin from which it is copied 

 (Fig. 12). Differences in the lettering, in the metal, in 

 small details of every kind, but, above all, in the general 

 feeling of the composition, have to be considered in order 

 to decide between Paduan and Eoman. Broadly speaking, 

 the Paduan is the more elegant, the Eoman the stronger 

 piece of work. 



The interest of all the medals which we have described 

 so far has been almost purely personal. Only a few Italian 

 medals can be cited which refer to events of a more 

 historical interest. Of these, the best known — at least, in 

 Protestant countries — is, without doubt, the inedal struck 

 under Pope Gregory XIII. in 1572 in commemoration of 

 the Massacre of the Huguenots (Fig. 10). The destroying 

 angel is represented advancing with sword and cross 

 against the Huguenots. The medal, which is not otherwise 

 than historically interesting, is by Federigo Bonzagna. 



