Notes on Italian medals. XX: Some anonymous medals / by G.F. Hill

8/7/2019 Notes on Italian medals. XX: Some anonymous medals / by G.F. Hill

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Table Designs of the i6th and 17th CenturiesCharterhouse,who I understandis shortly publish-ing a history of that foundation, informs me thatthere is a plainer table of a similar kind and ofapproximatedate atCastleCamps-four miles fromSaffronWalden, of which the Charterhouseholdsthe advowson. The Master writes :-

Castle Camps manor belonged to the old Elizabethansoldier, Thomas Sutton, our founder . . . . I ought tocorrect one possible source of mistake. Our communiontable was probably put in its place by our first Governorsin or soon after 1614 (when the Hospital began its work),but Sutton had died in x611. The similarity of type

between the Castle Camps table (where Sutton owned themanor and often lived at his farm next the church) ismerely suggestive, and I do not think there is any record atCamps of the date of its being placed in the church, nor yetof the person who gave it. ...This is all extremelyinteresting because of theprobabilityof the two tables having been madebythe same hand. The CastleCamps table may bemore pleasing by reason of its greatersimplicity.The date on the Charterhouse table-1616-issomewhat perplexing in the light of the abovefacts.

NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS--XXBY G. F. HILL*SOME ANONYMOUS MEDALSHERE s solittleobesaid, r, obemore correct, I know so little, aboutthe medals which are illustratedon theaccompanying plates, that I feel someapology to be necessary orpublishingthem at all. My chief reason for doing so is thatthe mere description of such pieces in words isfutile; it is, for instance, practically impossible,from A:rmand'sdescriptions, to visualize the fewinconnuis and inconnues whom he includes inhis list. Hence if any progressis to be made inthe classificationand attributionof such pieces,stillmore in the identificationof thepersonsconcerned,illustrations are necessary. But the Berlin Cata-logue of ItalianBronzes,wherea few such portraitsare included on P1.LXXV,s at present the onlyattemptat illustrationsof the kind.I beginwith certain pieces 1 of the middle andlatterhalf of the 15thcentury. The first PLATE I, F],which is in theVictoria and AlbertMuseum,2 is notwholly anonymous, for at least we know the lady'sbaptismal name, Taddea. The inscription readsin hexameter . DIVA . HOC . IN . RVTILO . CELATA .EST. ERE . THAD'A The lettering s peculiar, thesemi-cursiveD, forinstance,beingwithout parallel,I believe,on medals. The dateof thispiece, to judgeby its style and by the costume, must be about themiddle ofthe 15th century. It is the most importantof a group of portraitsmore or less contemporary.Very close to it, for instance, is the pretty piece,octagonal with incurved sides, also at SouthKensington [PLATE I, G].8 This shows rathermorepowerof modellingthan the portraitof Taddea,butis still primitive enough.

The Victoria and Albert Museumpossesses twoother members of the same group. Of one[PLATE I, D] 4 there exist at least three specimens.Of the other5 [PLATEI, C],I know of but the oneexample. These two are very close to each other;note, forinstance,the modellingof the eye with theratherheavy lower lid.The mostcharming,however,of all theseladiesisone, also at South Kensington, of about the samedate, but by a different hand [PLATE I, A]6. Theportrait s fresh andlively,whereas hose previouslydescribedtend some to angularity,others to heavi-ness. On the reverse of this piece [PLATEI, B] is adelightfulrecumbentCupid. Baron de Cosson hasa specimenof the obversewiththe fieldcut away.Where these pieces were made it is difficulttosay,butthey areclearly North Italian. The schoolof medallistswith which they seem to me to havemost affinity s the Ferrarese but I should not liketo beasked to give detailedreasons forthis opinion.Another group of anonymous portraits, also ofabout the same period, say 1450-1475, representsmen. In the Vienna Cabinet is the portraitof aboy with heavy zazzera and tall conical cap[PLATEI, J].7 This is close in style to the Victoriaand Albert Museumportraitof a young man withsuperciliousexpression,zazzera, nd capwith edgeturnedup all round[PLATEI, E].8 And to thesamegroup, if not to the same hand, belong two pieceswhich are illustrated n the Berlin Catalogue,9 lsowith busts of men in profile to the left. All thisgroup, again, recalls the portraits by Ferraresemedallistsof the time of Borso d'Este.The little group of the Berlin Museum1oofrectangularplaquettes,which are inscribedon thebacksof the frames n which they areenclosedwiththe names and dates of members of the Venetian* For previous articles in this series see Burlington Magazine,Vol. xxvIl:, p. 65 (May 1915).1For photographs and casts of the Victoria and Albert Museum

specimens I have to thank Mr. Eric Maclagan. The photographson PLATE I, A-G, are slightly reduced; I owe the measure-ments to Mr. Bedford. The casts of the Berlin and Viennaspecimen's were sent me in happier days by Dr. Reglingand Ritter A. von Loehr.2514-1864 ; diam. 79"5mm.517-43-864 ; 62"5x44mm. Another specimen, in the col-lection of the late M. Gustave Dreyfus, is illustrated by Rodo-canachi, La femme Italienne, p. 220.

4516-1864; 50"5x 38 mm. Another in the Dreyfus collection,Les Arts, La Coll. Gustave Dreyfus, 1908, p. 77, viii, and a thirdin a private collection at Florence (lead, 51 x 38 mm.).54480-i858 ; 49 x 36"5mm.1697-1865 ; 52 x 30'55 mm.7 72 X39 mm,8696-1865 ; 54 x 49 mm.9Ital. Bronzen, Io85 and Io86, Taf. LXXV.10Ital. Bronzen, Io79-Io83.R 235


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Notes on Italian Medalsfamily of Amadi, has the appearance of havingbeenmade,or reproducedfrom piecesmade,about1481, the latest date which any of them bears.Thereis, however,so muchthat is mysteriousaboutthesepiecesthat I prefernot to discussthemuntil itis possibleto see the originals or casts. I note hereonly two points. First, that the original of theportrait of Angelo Amadi must be the circularmedal-of which thereis aspecimenin the Brera--which has the same portraiton the obverseand theAmadiarms n aformalwreathon the reverse."Secondly, what Facino da Perugiareally had todo with these pieces, and whether FACINIPERVGINIOPvs,which is inscribedon thebackof the frameofthe portraitof AmadoAmadi, means that he madethe plaquette, or some medal from which it iscopied, are points which remainto be determined.The impressiongiven by the whole groupis that ofa seriesof fancyfamilyportraits. Why, otherwise,should Angelo Amadi in 1481 be wearing an early15th-centuryheaddress,and why should Amadoand Giovanni Amadi, whose dates are given as1366 and 1381 respectively, be in the fashion of1450-1475 or thereabouts?Partly or itsown interest,partlyfor theveryclearcontrastwhich it affords o the North Italianworksalready described, I include here [PLATEI, H] alittle medal of Florentine origin.Obv. Bust of a youth 1., with long hair; smallround cap ; plain dress.Rev. A leopard,wearinga collar, seated 1.,withhis r. forepawgraspingthe stem of a laurel-tree inthe field to 1.a star, to r. a crescent.39 mm. Vienna.This-in spite of the sulky expression of theboy-is a very pleasing example of the Florentineschool of the end of the 15th century; no doubtsome would attribute it to Niccolb Fiorentinowithout further ado. The reverse, whatever itsmeaning-and it suggests a heraldic origin-hasthe advantage,none too common in the Florentineseries, of being not a mere stock design but some-thing intimatelyrelatedto the obverse.One more anonymous medal is figured onPLATE I, L, and this we are fortunately able to

assign to a definite medallist. This is Mr. Rosen-heim's little oval bronze portrait of an elderlyclean-shaven man (34 x 32 mm.). It is withoutdoubt by the medallist Mea, who signs MEAFon the reverseof thestrikingmedal of Pietro Pom-ponazzo, the Mantuan philosopher. The obverseof the latter medal-hitherto Mea's only knownwork-is illustrated on PLATE I, K, to show thesimilarityof treatment n the two busts; one mayobserveparticularly he renderingof the hair by asort of coarse granulation. At first sight I hadsupposed both portraits to represent the sameman, but there are certain differences, as in theshape of the back of the head, and of the nose,which weigh in the balance against certain otherextraordinary esemblances,andforce us to assumethat at the nearestthe two men are brothers.Pietro Pomponazzo, Mantuanpoet and philo-sopher, was born in 1462, and taught philosophyat Padua,Ferraraand Bologna. He died 18 May1525, and Mea's medal, since it shows him to bewell advanced in age, can hardly be earlierthan1520. Mr. Rosenheim's anonymous medal mayaccordingly be given to about the same time.Nothing, I believe, is known of Meaexceptwhathis work allows us to conjecture. Milanesi sug-gested that he was the Florentine painter, Giov.Mazzinghi,called Mea, who is mentioned in 1488and 1493 ; but the workmanship of the two medalsis in no way Florentine. The late Mr. TalbotReady was inclined to attribute to him the medalof the Mantuan, Battista Spagnoli. There issufficient likeness between the two medals towarrantthe presumptionthat they were producedin the same place, if not by the same hand ; andaccordingly we are justified in regarding Mea asbelongingto the smallgroupof Mantuanmedallistsof the early i6th century.The medals illustratedon PLATE II are all ofthe i6th century. In Mr. Maurice Rosenheim'scollection is the oval piece [PLATEII, M]12with thebust of a curly-haired boy, wearing cuirass andmantle,and the reversedesign of Innocence seatedbeneath a tree (olive ?), laying a wreath over thehorn of a unicorn which, seated on its haunches,places its forelegs on her lap. The boy has beenidentifiedas Garciade' Medici, and indeed the re-semblance to Bronzino's portrait n the UniversityGalleriesat Oxfordrepresentinghim at about thesame age is close enough to warrant the identifica-tion. Garcia, the son of Cosimo I, was born in I1547.In 1562 he happened to kill his brother Giovannithe Cardinal while hunting, and his father, believing

" Armand, III, 182a. Four specimens were placed by AngeloAmadi himself in the foundations of the Madonna de' Miracoliin 1481. See Boni in Archivio Veneto,xxxii (1887), pp. 245,248. I have to thank the kindness of Comm. Francesco Gnecchifor a cast of the Brera specimen. It is an ugly, roughly mademedal, so coarse in execution that were it not for the docu-mentary evidence one would put it down as a 17th-centuryforgery. The document quoted by Boni gives an inscription(the same as that which is found on the back of the frame of theBerlin plaquette) as occurring on the circular medal ; but neitherthe Brera specimen nor the drawing in the document itself bearsthis out.

1259 X49mm. Bronze. There is another specimen in theSimon Collection at Berlin (No. 373, 57'5 x 48 mm.).DESCRIPTION OF PLATE I, OPPOSITE

[A-G] Medals in the Victoria and Albert Museum. North Italian(Ferrarese ?) school.H] Florentinemedalin the Viennacabinet.J] Medal in theVienna cabinet, North Italian (Ferrarese?)school.

K Pietro Pomponazzo, by Mea. British Museum.L Anonymous portrait in collection of Mr. Maurice Rosen-heim. Attributed to Mea.

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NOTES ON ITALIAN MiEDALS-XXPLATE I


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NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS-XXPLATE II


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Notes on Italian Medalshim to be guilty of deliberate fratricide,punishedhim by stabbinghim on the same day. The portraitis that of a boy of about thirteen or fifteen years.It may have been made about I56o ; or, again,theInnocence on the reverse may be an allusion tohis unhappy fate; in which case the medal isposthumous.

Among the numerous anonymous portraits ofladies of the second half of the I6th century it ispossible to pick out certaingroups. One of thesegroups belongs to the school of the highly skilledwax-modellers of the Emilia, of which AlfonsoRuspagiari of Reggio (1521-1576) was the chief.I note the following pieces:--Bust of a woman to 1.; hair bound with a broadband; drapery confining lower back hair andforming wimple; dress of thin material, with acloak fastened by a strap and brooch on leftshoulder. No reverse.51 mm. Bronzegilt. Mr. MauriceRosenheim'scollection [PLATE II, S].Anotherin the Wallace Collection (No. 366) hasa raisedborder. There is a reproduction of a thirdspecimenin the Victoriaand AlbertMuseum. Thisis probably similar to the portrait describedbyArmand,III, p. 255 h, as being sometimes foundattachedto a portraitof Ottavio Farnese. Armandhas noted that it is much in the style of AlfonsoRuspagiariand the medallist (probablySignoretti)who signs " S." An oval piece at Berlin (141o), ifone may judgefroma photograph,also belongs tothe same group; but in this the drapery s veryslight, leaving the left shoulder, arm and breastquitebare,andthere is no drapery on the head orwimple under the chin.It is instructive to compare these with thefollowing piece of the Emilian school:--Bust of woman 1.; hairelaboratelydressed,withlight veil depending from the back hair; necklaceof large beads; dress of thin material, leaving I.shoulder bare,but held up by a cord passing overthe shoulder, with pendants.67 mam. Bronze. Mr. Maurice Rosenheim'scollection [PLATEII, R].It would appearfromArmand'sdescriptionthatthis is the same portrait as exists in a differentform, signed A. R., i.e. by Ruspagiari."3There is another oval portrait at Berlin (1399),in which the bust is all but nude, a slight draperybeing supportedon the shouldersby a brooch andstrap arrangement; the back hair is confined in a

sort of kerchief. The effect is simpler than in thepieces above described,but it may well be by thesame hand as some of them.Apartfrom the treatment of the dress, with itsinsistence on rather fantastic detail, of whichRuspagiari s so fond, all these medals, with theexception of the last mentioned,have the commoncharacteristicof a ratherunintelligent, not to saystupid, expression. In this they differ altogetherfrom another medal which belongs to about thesame date :-Bust of a lady I., wearing light veil falling froma coif which confines her lower back hair; dressfastened down the front,turn-down collar, puffedand slashed sleeves. She holds in herr. a book, inher 1. the end of her veil.65 mm. British Museum. Lead.64mm. BerlinCabinet Simon collection). Lead."Ital. Bronzen ", No. 1402, Taf. LXXV [PLATE II, P].It would doubtless be easy,fromalmostanylargecollection of medals, to add to these anonymousportraitsof the Emilian group. And there are agood numberof otherswhich aremoreor less alliedto those alreadydescribed. Ofsome of these repro-ductionsareexhibitedat South Kensington,and byMr. Maclagan'skindness I am able to photographcasts of two of them [PLATE II, T (71 mm.) and N(84 mm.)]. In the latterwe see, as in PLATE II, P,one of the hands represented loosely holdingdrapery; but thepretentiousconception combinedwith the coarsenessof treatment s quite foreign tothe delicate style of Ruspagiariand "S." It is, onthe other hand,just in the mannerof the medallistwho signs his medals A A. This medallist,whoderives his methods but not his qualitiesfrom theEmilian artistsalreadymentioned, and whom Mr.Max Rosenheim first distinguishedfrom AntonioAbondio, was perhapsone of the Ardenti,Agostinoor Alessandro.'4 We may place this anonymousportrait beside the medal of the sculptor AndreaFosco of Faenza,'"which shows all the samequalities.The remainderof PLATEI is occupied with twofinely executed pieces which I find it difficult toplace, and which I illustrate-as indeed all theothers-in the hope of obtaining light from somebetter informedreader. The firstis :Obv. Bust of a bearded man 1.,wearing mantle,cuirassand small ruff.Rev. Diana,withlightdrapery, tandingto front,resting 1. elbow on a tree-stump; she wears a

"a rmand, , p. 216, No. 4. Collectionof the late M.GustaveDreyfus; 70 x53 mm. There is no trace of the signatureonMr.Rosenheim's pecimen.14Burlington Magazine, Dec. 1907, pp. 141 f.15Hill, Portrait Medals of Italian Artists, p. 66, No. 46,

P1.xxvii.DESCRIPTION OF PLATE II, OPPOSITE[M] Don Garciade' Medici? Collectionof Mr.MauriceRosen-heim.[N] Reproductionn Victoriaand AlbertMuseum. By A. A. (?)[o] Collectionof Mr. MauriceRosenheim. Mannerof AntonioAbondio ?).[P] Berlin (Simoncollection). North Italianschool.

[Q] Collectionof Mr. MauriceRosenheim.[R] Collectionof Mr. MauriceRosenheim. By Alfonso Rus-pagiari.[s] Collectionof Mr.MauriceRosenheim. Emilianschool.T] Reproduction n Victoria and Albert Museum. NorthItalian school,

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Notes on Italian Medalscrescent on her forehead,holds bow in 1.,arrowinr., and looks down at a hound seated beside her.55 mm. Bronze. Collection of Mr. MauriceRosenheim [PLATE I, O].On both sides are incised compass rules for theinscriptionswhich were to be added after this trialproof was made. The modelling is very delicateand recalls, though not too closely, the work ofAntonio Abondio. Possiblythe medal is known ina complete form and I shall easily be convicted ofa wild suggestion.

Finally we have :-Obv. Bust of bearded man I., wearing cloakover doublet "with up-and-down" collar.Rev. Bust of woman r., her head covered witha kerchief,wimple under chin; low-necked dressand light draperyover shoulders.Oval. 48 x 37 mm. Bronze.Mr.MauriceRosenheim's collection [PLATEII,Q]. Another at Berlin (1386) 47 x 35 mm. Ex-tremely delicate and charming work, about I550or earlier.REVIEWSCATALOGUE OF THE NATIONAL TREASURES OF PAINTING AND

SCULPTURES IN JAPAN; ICHISABURO NAKAMURA ; with prefaceby E. HAMILTONELL; VIII,I70 pp., 10 illust., native binding.Kyoto. London (Quaritch), 7s. 6d.The student of the arts of the Far East owes adeepdebt of gratitude o Mr. IchisaburoNakamura,of the JapaneseImperial Museums,for the painsand scholarship he has devoted to the productionof this most important catalogue. For lack of it,or any work correspondingto it in Japanese,I hadto waste much valuable time in finding out thewhereaboutsof the treasuresof art I had come sofar to see; only too often to discover,when I hadascertained that a certain painting or statue wasthe propertyof a certain temple, that it was not tobe seen there at all,but had been removed for safekeeping to one of the three Imperial Museums.To compile the catalogue, Mr. Nakamura hadsearched through the records of various Statedepartments extending over nearly twenty years,and themselves not easy of access even to aJapanese. As his officialposition would indicate,heis extremelywell equipped by his knowledge of thesubject to treat itwith authority,and his acquaint-ance with the English language enables him topresent his information to us in an accomplishedand agreeable form. The result is a handy littlevolume at an extremelymoderateprice which willprove indispensable, not merely to every seriousstudent of Oriental art throughout the world, buteven to the average tourist who wishes to under-stand somethingof the greatarts of the inscrutableEast. As is well known to studentsof the subject,the splendid arts of Chinese painting and sculp-ture are only to be studied in Japan,since socialand political upheavals togetherwith convulsionsof nature have almost exterminated them on thecontinent which gave them birth. Japan withgreat good taste has for many centuries,certainlysince the sixth of our era, continually acquired,accumulated and stored up these masterpieces inpalace and temple, until to-day she possesses atreasureof Chinese art such as exists nowhere elsein the world. Add to these the triumphantachieve-ments of her own artist sons, and it is not toomuch to say that nowhere except perhapsin Italyis such a banquet spreadfor the connoisseur as in

the museums and temples of Japan. Nothingmore than a superficial acquaintance with thesecan be acquired even in the United States,where a far greater effort has been made togather and preservethe masterpiecesof China andJapan than has been attemptedas yet in Europe.This grave lapse can never now be repaired,sinceJapan, wealthy and proud of her past, is witheminent good sense holding on to her own artisticachievements and to those of her master andteacher, China. As soon as the stress of recon-struction was past,in theyear 1897the enlightenedgovernment of the Island Empire dedicated allthe most importantworks of art remainingin hertemples,together with many of the sacred edificesthemselves,as Kokuh6-National Treasures, here-by insuring their inalienability and safe keepingfor the benefit of posterityfor all time to come.Additions are made to this store from time to time,and Mr. Nakamurapromises to keep his valuablelittle record up to date as need shall arise. Anidea of the judgment with which the selectionof national treasures has been made may begathered from the fact that they are divided intofour classes according to their artistic merit; ofthe many hundreds listed in this catalogue onlynineteen, eleven works of sculpture and eight ofpainting, are considered worthy of place in thefirst class. It is true that in most of the templesthe work of art which constitutes the principalobject of worship is for religious reasons placedhors concoursand is not classed with the others;but this indicates no artistic rank, so that theproportion of absolutely first-class works wouldprobablynot begreatly ncreasedby their nclusion.It gives one a very exalted respect for Japaneseconnoisseurshipto find such masterpiecesas theFive Great Deities of Toji or Nobuzane's famousMakemonoof Kitano Jinsha rated in the secondclass. Many hundreds of the works of art sopreserved have been reproduced in the pages of"Kokka" nd otherworks,periodicalandotherwise,which the Japanese produce with a skillwhich farexcels that shown in any Western work of thekind. To these books also this catalogue willserve as an index and guide. A word of advice

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Notes on Italian medals. XX: Some anonymous medals / by G.F. Hill

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Transcript of Notes on Italian medals. XX: Some anonymous medals / by G.F. Hill