Antico: The Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes
May 1, 2012, through July 29, 2012
Antico's Portrait Medals
Antico's first patron, Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, possessed more than two thousand Roman coins in his collection. Ancient coins inspired the Renaissance art form of the portrait medal, and, of all fifteenth-century examples, Antico's most closely resemble Roman coins, like the imperial sestertii (3, 4) .
Antico's portrait medals of Gianfrancesco (5a–b) and his wife, Antonia del Balzo (6a–b), are similar in size to large Roman sestertii. As on ancient coins, the sitters are depicted on the obverse side in profile. The reverse sides display emblematic messages associated with each ruler. Yet many elements are modern. In his two portraits, Gianfrancesco is shown both in ancient (5b) and contemporary (7) costume. On the beautiful reverse of Antonia's medal (6b), her motto, MAI PIV (Nevermore), appears in Italian on the prow of the broken-masted vessel.
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5a. Gianfrancesco Gonzaga di Ròdigo
(obverse)
Fortune, Mars, and Minerva
(reverse shown)
c. 1486–90 Bronze, modern gilding
Dr. Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Collection
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5b. Gianfrancesco Gonzaga di Ròdigo
(obverse shown)
Fortune, Mars, and Minerva
(reverse)
c. 1486–90
Bronze
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection
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6a. Antonia del Balzo (obverse shown)
Hope on the Prow of a Broken-Masted Vessel (reverse)
c. 1487
Bronze
Dr. Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Collection
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6b. Antonia del Balzo (obverse)
Hope on the Prow of a Broken-Masted Vessel (reverse shown)
c. 1487
Bronze
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection
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7. Attributed to Antico
Gianfrancesco Gonzaga di Ròdigo (obverse shown)
Trinacria (reverse)
c. 1478
Bronze
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection
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8. Gianfrancesco Gonzaga di Ròdigo (obverse)
Thunderbolt (reverse shown)
c. 1479–82
Bronze
Collection of Andrew Brown
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