66 
DEPARTMENT OF COINS AND MEDALS. [GROUND 
portraits of John VII. Palaeologus, Emperor of Constantinople, 
and Alphonso the Magnanimous, King of Naples, are the 
most remarkable, and the reverse types of the eagle and vul- 
tures, and the boar hunt, on medals of Alphonso. A series of 
portrait medals follows, representing the most distinguished 
personages of that epoch, such as Cosmo and Lorenzo de* 
Medici, Federigo, Duke of Urbino, Francesco Sforza, and 
Savonarola, a medal which is perhaps not contemporary. 
Medals of the sixteenth century include works by Francesco 
Francia, and Benvenuto Cellini, Pietro Paolo Galeotti, called 
P. P. Komano, Giovanni Maria Pomedello, and a series of 
portraits by Pastorino of Siena, and of portraits and classical 
imitations by Giovanni Cavino, the well-known u Paduan " 
medallist, who worked in conjunction with his brother. One 
of the most beautiful works of this time is the medal of Jacoba 
Corregia, attributed to Pomedello. The works of Trezzo and 
Primavera are mentioned in the English series. 
The series of Papal medals contains portraits from Martin Y. 
downwards, and is of value as the most continuous representa- 
tion of Italian work in this branch. The famous medal 
struck by Gregory XIII. in commemoration of the Massacre of 
St. Bartholomew, as well as a later copy, is here exhibited. 
French medals present three great epochs, the Eenaissance 
in France, the age of Louis XIV., and that of Napoleon I. 
The medals of the first age are of high merit, not unworthy 
to be compared with contemporary Italian works ; those of 
the second are more interesting as historical documents than 
for any artistic value ; those of the third represen t the most 
successful modern revival of classical art by a local and purely 
French school. 
The earliest medal in the series, that of Louis XII. and 
Anne of Brittany, is anterior in style to the French Eenais- 
sance. The school of medallists of Francois I. and his 
descendants must be distinguished from that of Henri IV., 
under whom Bupre' and Varin (or Warm) are the chief names. 
The great medals of the Valois Kings must be especially 
noticed ; the largest are always " plaques/' that is to say 
having a subject on one side only. 
hi the Napoleon series the most curious medal is the famous 
