Giovanni Battista Gaulli, il Baciccio (1639-1709)
Giovanni Battista Gaulli, il Baciccio (1639-1709)

Victory: Design for the obverse of a medal dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden; and Virtue subduing Evil: Design for the obverse of a medal dedicated to Cardinal Decio Azzolini

Details
Giovanni Battista Gaulli, il Baciccio (1639-1709)
Victory: Design for the obverse of a medal dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden; and Virtue subduing Evil: Design for the obverse of a medal dedicated to Cardinal Decio Azzolini
inscribed 'Imperio et Virtute' (2) and numbered '131' (2) and with inscription 'Baciccia' on the mount (1)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash heightened with white (2, oxidized), in inscribed circles
7¼ x 7.1/8 in. and 5.5/8 x 5¾ in. (183 x 182 mm. and 143 x 146 mm.) (2)

Lot Essay

Designs for the obversi of two medals minted in 1681 by Massimiliano Soldani (1656-1740) after designs by Baciccio in honor of Queen Christina of Sweden and her friend and confidant Cardinal Decio Azzolini (1623-1689), F. Vannel and G. Toderi, La Medaglia Barocca in Toscana, Florence, 1987, p. 56, nos. 29 and 32).
Queen Christina of Sweden (1627-1689) arrived in Rome in 1654 following her conversion to Catholicism. Already a keen collector of coins, she embarked from around 1680 on a project to issue a series of medals with on one side her portrait and on the other symbols illustrating her life. The designs for these were to be commissioned to the foremost Roman artists, probably through the help from her secretary Gian Petro Bellori. The series, never completed, was to constist of 120 medals. The symbol of Victory is explained by the inscription on the medal, Victoria Maxima, commemorating her decision to abdictae, seen by Queen Christina as her 'greatest victory', P. Bjurström, Queen Christina of Sweden, exhib. cat., National Museum, Stockholm, 1966, p. 329 and nos. 787 and 792. The medal with Cardinal Azzolini bears the inscription Invidiam Virtute, or Virtue overcomes Envy.

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