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Lot Essay
In the present lot we have a fine example of a medal of Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan, by Pisanello, circa 1441, who is believed to have developed the two-sided Renaissance portrait medal. His richly decorative frescoes, courtly and elegant painted portraits and highly original portrait medals made him one of the most popular artists of the day.
The design of the medal with a head of a satyr in high relief, its features comprising male genitalia, was probably composed by Giuseppe Acrimboldo (1527-1593) an Italian painter known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of differing objects.
The medal of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, circa 1519, is a variant of Leone Leoni's medal of the emperor, and is known from an electrotype in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Another version of the same medal is illustrated in A. Norris and I. Weber, Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College, USA, 1976, fig. 322.
The design of the medal with a head of a satyr in high relief, its features comprising male genitalia, was probably composed by Giuseppe Acrimboldo (1527-1593) an Italian painter known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of differing objects.
The medal of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, circa 1519, is a variant of Leone Leoni's medal of the emperor, and is known from an electrotype in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Another version of the same medal is illustrated in A. Norris and I. Weber, Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College, USA, 1976, fig. 322.