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Pisanello

Leonello d'Este, 1407-1450, Marquess of Ferrara 1441 [obverse], 1444

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G16

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 10.08 cm (3 15/16 in.)
gross weight: 318.02 gr (0.701 lb.)
axis: 12:00

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1957.14.602.a

Artists / Makers

Pisanello (artist) Veronese, c. 1395 - 1455

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

Pisanello, who was a painter as well as a medalist, is generally credited with having invented the Renaissance medal form, as well as having brought it to its highest potential. He made several medals of the Marquess of Ferrara, this one being for the occasion of Leonello's marriage to Maria of Aragon in 1444. The composition of the reverse side alludes to their marriage, with Leonello (in the guise of a lion; his name means "little lion") being taught to sing by Cupid, who here represents matrimonial love. The artist has dated this reverse composition (MCCCCXLIIII, or 1444) on the pillar in the background, and has signed it OPVS PISANI PICTORIS ("the work of Pisano the Painter").

The inscription across the field and around the bottom of the obverse, LEONELLVS MARCHIO ESTENSIS D(ominus) FERRARIE REGII ET MUTINE, identifies Leonello as Marquess of Este and Lord of Ferrara, Reggio, and Modena. The truncated inscription around the top, GE R AR, is an abbreviation of GENER REGIS ARAGONUM, identifying him (through his marriage) as the son-in-law of King Alfonso V of Aragon, ruler of Naples; Leonello's marriage to Maria brought him a bride who increased his prestige by associating him with the powerful Neapolitan court.

Inscription

across center: LEONELLVS MARCHIO / ESTENSIS; around bottom circumference: D[ominus] FERRARIE REGII ET MVTINE; around top circumference: GE[ner] R[egis] AR[agonum]

Provenance

Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his heirs; purchased with the entire Dreyfus collection 9 July 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 31 January 1944 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1957 to NGA.

[1] The Duveen Brothers Records document the firm’s sixteen year pursuit and eventual acquisition of the Dreyfus collection, which included paintings, sculptures, small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. Bequeathed as part of his estate to Dreyfus’ widow and five children (a son and four daughters), who had differing opinions about its disposition, the collection was not sold until after his widow’s death in April 1929. Duveen did not wish to separate Dreyfus’ collection of small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes, and it was sold intact to the Kress Foundation for a price that was met by installment payments every three months. (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 301, box 446, folders 3 and 4; reel 302, box 447, folders 1-6; reel 303, box 448, folders 1 and 2; reel 330, box 475, folder 4.) See also George Francis Hill’s discussion "A Note on Pedigrees" in his catalogue, The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals, Oxford, 1931: xii, which was commissioned by Duveen Brothers.

Associated Names

Dreyfus, Gustave
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Exhibition History

1953: Renaissance Portraits, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1953, no cat.

1994: The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Frick Collection, New York; National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1994-1995, no. 5a, repro.

Bibliography

1883: Armand, Alfred. Les médailleurs italiens des quinzième et seizième siècles. 2nd ed. 3 vols. Paris, 1883-1887: 1:3, no. 8.

1908: Migeon, Gaston. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus, V: Les plaquettes." Les Arts 80 (August 1908): 3, nos. viii, ix.

1930: Hill, George Francis. A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini. 2 vols. London, 1930: no. 32.

1931: Hill, George Francis. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals. Oxford, 1931: no. 10.

1951: National Gallery of Art. Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. Washington, 1951: 161.

1957: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 58.

1966: Pope-Hennessy, John. The Portrait in the Renaissance. London and New York, 1966: 68-69, fig. 68.

1967: Hill, George Francis, and Graham Pollard. Renaissance Medals from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art. London, 1967: no. 10.

1972: Chiarelli, R. L'Opera completa di Pisanello. Milan, 1972: no. 95.

1983: De Lorenzi, Giovanna. Medaglie di Pisanello e della sua cerchia. Museo del Bargello, Florence, 1983: no. 9.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 18, no. 5.

1984: Pollard, John Graham. Italian Renaissance Medals in the Museo Nazionale of Bargello. 3 vols. Florence, 1984: no. 9.

1990: Woods-Marsden, Joanna. "Art and Political Identity in Fifteenth-Century Naples: Pisanello, Cristoforo di Geremia, and King Alfonso's Imperial Fantasies." In Rosenberg, Charles, ed. Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy. Notre Dame and London, 1990: 12-13, fig. 2.

1991: Mottola Molfino, Alessandra, and Mauro Natale, eds. Le muse e il principe: Arte di corte nel Rinascimento padano.2 vols. Exh. cat. Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. Modena, 1991: 69, no. 8 [entry by Elena Corradini].

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 284, repro.

1994: Rykwert, Joseph and Anne Engel, eds. Leon Battista Alberti. Exh. cat. Palazzo del Tè, Mantua, 1994: 477, no. 78 (entry by Giannino Giovannoni).

1996: Cordellier, Dominique, et. al. Pisanello. Exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, 1996: 397-398, nos. 272, 273 [entries by Sylvie de Turckheim-Pey].

1996: Marini, Paola, ed. Pisanello: I luoghi del gotico internazioniale del Veneto. Exh. cat. Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, 1996: 386-387, no. 87 [entry by Davide Gasparotto].

1996: Rugolo, Ruggero. "Medaglie." In Puppi, Leonelli. Pisanello. Una poetica dell'inatteso. Milan, 1996: 157-159, no. 9.

1997: Campbell, Stephen J. Cosme Tura of Ferrara: Style, Politics and the Renaissance City, 1450-1495. New Haven, 1997: 46, 47, fig. 33.

1997: Gebhardt, Volker. Kunstgeschichte Malerei, 1997, no. 47, repro.

2000: National Gallery of Art Special Issue. Connaissance des Arts. Paris, 2000:61.

2007: Pollard, John Graham. Renaissance Medals. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007: 1:no. 10, repro.

2011: Campbell, Steven J. "Review of Renaissance Medals, Vol. 1 Italy (Washington, 2007)." The Art Bulletin 93, no. 1 (March 2011): 108, nt. 3.