Church Plate at Great Yarmouth The seventeenth-century communion plate of the

parish church of Great Yarmouth is more remark- able for its gigantic size than for any other reason. It includes four cupsof extraordinary capacity, and one has a slight depression at the lip, and was perhaps used as a flagon. Vessels of such large size were no doubt necessary in a church which ranks as the second largest parish church in England, S. Michael's, Coventry, taking first place.

The civic plate of the borough of Great Yarmouth, consisting of maces, a sword, an oar, and several trencher salts,' was also on view.

The monteith bowl, with London date-letter for 1698-99, is a very fine example, decorated with panels formed of hollow scrolls and repouss6 work, and with the borough arms in relief.

It is a matter for great regret that two such convenient opportunities for the preparation of a comprehensive and well illustrated book on the wealth of sacramental plate in the diocese of Norwich as was afforded first at the Church Congress held at Norwich some years ago, and now this year at Yarmouth, have been allowed to pass away unaccomplished. Though much was done in this direction by the late Rev. C. R. Manning, much yet remains to be done. '' The Corporation Plate of England and Wales,' by Llewellyn

Jewitt and W. H. St. John Hope, vol. ii, p. 206.

NOTES ON SOME ITALIAN MEDALS u BY MAX ROSENHEIM AND G. F. HILL <&

I ANTONIO ABONDIO AND THE MEDALLIST A. A.

F late years considerable atten- tion has been devoted to the medallist, Antonio Abondio. The object of this note is to define his cruvre a little more closely by eliminating a certain number of medals which have been attributed to him without

due consideration. The result will not be entirely negative, as we shall show that most of these medals fall into a homogeneous group.

Before we proceed further, it may be as well to give one or two typical specimens of Abondio's work. These--medals of the four archdukes, Mathias, Maximilianl, Albert and Wenceslas, of the Empress Maria, of the Emperor Rudolph, of Sebastian Zaih and of his wife, Susanna Schlecht-- are illustrated on P1. I, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5. In addition we illustrate (P1. I, No. I) the medal of Niccolb Madruzzo, which shows the artist's earliest style, being, indeed, almost, if not quite, the only work which he executed in Italy.' This medal has been given without any authority or evidence by various writers, including Armand (I, 186) to Ant. Abondio the elder ; and although some critics, such as the author of the article in Meyer's 'Allgemeines Kiinstler-Lexikon,' restore the medal to our artist, there is still a general impression that it is the work of his father.2 At the time when this medal must have been executed Abondio was the pupil of Leone Leoni, whose style he obviously copied,

and the reverse of whose medal of Charles V 3 he reproduces exactly. It will be noticed that Madruzzo is represented wearing the Fleece, to which he had no right. This mistake, which is probably due to the influence on the young artist of the bust of Charles V on Leone's medal above mentioned, is a sign of youthful inexperience.

There can be no doubt that obverse and reverse belong to each other; we have not here a case of a cast of a reverse by Leone being attached in later times to an obverse by another artist. The two occur conjoined as early as the time of Luckius (1620);` but even without that evidence their original connexion is clear to any one who handles a specimen like the one before us.5

Abondio, then, learned his art from Leone Leoni; but the other medals from his hand which we illustrate show how the style of the medals which he made on the north side of the Alps is, though slightly different, yet essentially a genuine development from the style of this Madruzzo medal. Further, they show that the medals signed A. A. and described below could never have been made by the same man between his Madruzzo and his northern medals.

These medals are usually signed AN. AB. (the last two letters being often ligatured). The group of medals of which we wish to relieve Abondio are signed A. A.,6 with one exception, which, though unsigned, we are confident that no one will deny to the artist who made the rest of the group. We proceed to describe them.

I. Within a frame-like border, consisting of volutes, scrolls and masks, and enclosing oval field, a bust to r., elaborately draped ; short beard and moustache, curly hair; on the breast, a mask.

1 rhe medal of Caterina Riva may also possibly have been made in Italy; that of Trezzo (1572) was probably made in Spain. The reproductions on Plates I and IV are reduced by about one-sixth,

2 The latest writer on Abondio, Dr. Habich (in Thieme and Becker's ' Allgem. Kiinstler-Lexikon '), makes no mention of the medal of Madruzzo, and apparently accepts without question as Abondio's all those hitherto ascribed to him, except the portrait of the artist himself (Armand, I, 267, I).

3 Arm., 1, 162, 1. 4 Luckius, ' Sylloge numismatum,' p. 124. 5 From the Rosenheim collection. 6 Abondio occasionally used these letters instead of AN. AB

(e.g. Pl. I, No. 2), so that we do not insist on removing from him all medals so signed.

141

Some Italian lMedals Around, PETRVS. DONELLA. CARPENSIS. Below, A. A. Lead, diam. 59 mm. Rosenheim collection, P1. II, I.

Nothing appears to be known of this person except what is told us by his medal, viz., that he came from Carpi.

2. Within a border, similar to that of No. I, but without masks, a bust to 1., with slight drapery; heavy moustache, short beard, curly hair; the bust is supported by a mask and a half-figure of a nude woman. Around, AVGV. ARDENTIVS. FAVENTINVS. Lead, diam. 53 mm. Rosenheim collection. P1. II, 2. This has been attached to the well-known portrait of the painter Alessandro Ardenti by Ruspagiari,7 of which a good specimen (from the British Museum) is illustrated on P1. II, 6. Of Agostino Ardenti of Faenza nothing seems to be known.

3. Within a border (similar to that of No. I, but with the masks placed differently), a bust to 1., draped; moustache and short beard; the bust supported at the back by a mask and bracket-like ornament. Around, IVLIVS. ROS[C]IVS. CARPE. Below, A. A. Diam. 61 mm. Armand- Valton collection (Bibliothbque Nationale).8 P1. II, 3. Giulio Rossi of Carpi seems to be other- wise unknown.

4. Oval. Bust to r., with curly hair, long mous- tache, flowing beard; draped in mantle fastened on r. shoulder with elaborate bulla; under the mantle a vest fastened at the neck with a ram's (?) head. Around, rw GVIDVS. PANCIROLVS. REGIEN. IVR. C. AN. AET. XL. On the truncation of the arm, A. A. Size 75 by 61 mm. Armand-Valton collection (Bibliotheque Nationale).9 P1. II, 4. The age of Guido Panziruolo dates this medal to the year 1563.

5. Within a volute and scroll border (generally similar to No. I but without masks), a bust to 1., draped, with mask on breast, strikingly similar in appearance and execution to Panziruolo (No. 4). Around, ANTO. FRAN. DONI. FIOR. A. A.10 P1. II, 5 (after Mazzuchelli's engraving). Com- parison of Nos. 4 and 5 points to the fact that No. 4, in its present condition, is merely the oval interior part of what was once a circular medal with the border which is characteristic of this group.

It will not be denied that these five medals form a group, hardly of high artistic value, but interest- ing if only because of the curious mannerism with which the decoration is treated. Further, no one who takes the trouble to compare these medals with the accredited work of Antonio Abondio will fail to see that they have not the slightest con- nexion with him.

If we wish to establish a connexion with a

known artist we must turn to Ruspagiari. In the pretty medal of an unknown lady here illustrated (P1. II, 7)11 note the occurrence of the same kind of border in a much simpler form; note also that the brooch with which her drapery is fastened is an animal's (lion's ?) mask. This medal is in good taste, and the decoration affected by the artist of our first five medals is just the sort of florid 'improvement' on his model which a pupil in the age of mannerism would be proud of making.

Of the five persons represented by A. A., one- Augu. Ardentius-is a native of Faenza; two are of Carpi; one of Reggio; and one of Florence. These facts indicate an artist of the Emilia. It is obviously tempting to suggest that either Ales- sandro or Agostino Ardenti may claim the autho- rity of the medals.

Alessandro Ardenti is known as a painter. He was a native of Faenza ; he signed himself ALEXA. ARDENTIVS. FAVENTINVS on a picture of 1565 in S. Paolo in Lucca, which city also contains in different places three other pictures by him; he worked afterwards for the court of Savoy.'2 There exists or existed by him at Moncalieri, near Turin, an Adoration of the Magi (1592), and at the Monte della PietB, in Turin, a Conversion oJ St. Paul ; but his best work is considered to be in portrait painting, especially a likeness of Charles Emanuel, duke of Savoy. Ardenti died in i595 in the service of the court.

Now there exists a group of medals signed AR representing Charles Emanuel and Emanuel Fili- bert of Savoy, which have been without any reason attributed to Ruspagiari.3 With these (on grounds of style) may be classed a medal of Pietro Machia- velli of Lucca,"4 which is signed AAR. All these medals, as well as some others of Savoyan per- sonages, signed AtR," may possibly belong to Ales- sandro Ardenti, who, as we have seen, worked in Lucca and Savoy. We hope to return to this subject on some future occasion. For the present we will only say that if our surmise is correct, then the group of medals by A. A. illustrated on Plate II cannot be by Alessandro. Tentatively, we would suggest that the signature conceals the name of Agostino Ardenti, who was very probably Ales- sandro's brother. It will be remembered that the specimen of Agostino's portrait in the Rosenheim collection is attached to the portrait of Alessandro.

7 Armand, I, 210, 1. 8Armand, II, 233, 19=III, 129 K, ascribed to Abondio4 9Armand, III, 128, I, 10 Mazzuchelli I, P1. xlix, 3; Arm. III, 128 E.

1nLead, 69 mm. Rosenheim collection. Armand, I, 216, 5. Signed A. R. on the shoulder.

12 He is claimed as a Pisan artist by Morrona (' Pisa illustrata,' II, p. 521), but without any apparent reason.

13 Arm., I, 217, o ; 218, II ; III, 0oo, E. "' Mem. de la Soc. nat. des Antiquaires de France,' XLVI

(1885), p. 265 ; Arm., III, 103, A. Mr. J. H. Fitzhenry possesses a specimen (84 mm., silver parcel-gilt) which makes the signa- ture AAR certain. It appears to read LVCIENSIS, but the illustration in the ' Mem. de la Soc. des Ant.' shows that there is a horizontal bar joining the I and E, making Luchensis.

15 Arm., I, 218; 12 (Marie de Grillet), 13 (Beatrice Langosco Scarampi).

142

5 ?

5

4 4 104

4M

NOTES ON SOME ITALIAN

MEDALS (5:6). PLATE I

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Vol. 7

NOTES ON SOME ITALIAN

MEDALS. PLATE II

Some Italian Medals This conjecture is put forward merely as an

indication of the direction in which research should tend, not as a definite attribution. But at least it may be regarded as certain that Antonio Abondio is not responsible for this group of medals signed A. A., nor Ruspagiari for those signed ,R. Ruspagiari should also be relieved of the medal of Filiberto Pingone,16 which has absolutely no relation to his style. Its high relief, method of dating on the truncation, its reverse design, its whole treatment and feeling, are as different from his as possible. Closely related, in the manner of treating the bust, to the medallist A. A. are Bombarda and the artist who signs S, and who has on quite insufficient evidence been identified with Niccolo Signoretti.17 We must for the present be content to place S alongside of A. A. as a probable pupil of Ruspagiari.

II THE MEDALS OF NICCOL'o III D'ESTE

Our excuse for returning to the still open question of the origin of the medallic portraits of Niccolo III d'Este is that any piece of positive evidence on the subject must be welcome. No competent critic now admits the claim of these odd pieces to rank as the work of Pisanello : but it is hardly satisfactory to dismiss them without attempting to find a new place for them. It has already been suggested that the treatment of the shield of arms on the reverse of the larger medal (with the inscription in relief) points to the hand of a goldsmith, and that the medals were probably made early in the forties by some pupil of Pisa- nello at Ferrara.1" The piece before us (P1. III, No. 3) makes it possible to go one step further, though we are aware that it is necessary to proceed with great caution. The obverse differs in no respect (except the absence of an inscription) from other specimens of the smaller medal already published (e.g. Pl. I11,4). But on the reverse, instead of the gothic letters N. M. P., which are found on

other specimens,19 there are the letters Asur- M mounted by a crown, and also a monogram apparently of the letters N. L. P. These letters are not engraved directly on the metal, but were evidently incised in the wax original from which it was cast. They are quite carelessly engraved, and obviously represent a mere memorandum made on the wax original.

We would suggest, with all due reserve, that the artist, whoever he was, made a wax model of the head of Niccolb, and that, wishing to make a note

of the subject, he covered the back of the slate tablet, on which he had worked the portrait, with wax, and scratched these letters on it. We would explain the monogram N L P as Nicolaus Leonelli Pater, and A M as Amadeus Mediolanensis.

Amadeo da Milano is known as a medallist by two medals of the brothers Leonello (Heiss, ' Amad. da Milano,' P1. I, 2, 3) and Borso d'Este (P1. III, 6). Their date is uncertain, but there is a general feeling that they are later than the Este medals of Pisanello, which seem, at the earliest, to have been begun in I441. From the fact that the title given to Leonello on Amadeo's medal is simply Dominus Marchio Estensis (not Ferrariensis, etc.), it has been argued that the medal dates from before the death of Niccol6 III. But we must be careful how we argue from titulature on medals; the full title of a ruler was not always necessarily expressed on his medals. Merely on this ground, then, we cannot say that Amadeo's medal of Leonello dates from the lifetime of Leonello's father. But the point to be noticed is that Amadeo's medals of Leonello and Borso are a pair, and that exactly the same title is given to the two brothers. From this it is a fair inference that they were at the time on an equality; and that time can hardly have been after the death of Niccolo. So far as we can judge, Leonello appears, on Amadeo's medal, to be somewhat younger than on the medals by Pisanello. It has been urged:0 that the device of the blindfolded lynx on Amadeo's medal must have been copied from Pisanello's work, and that we cannot accept the only other alternative, that Amadeo (or N iccol6 Baroncelli, who also uses it) invented this device, and Pisanello copied it. But there is yet another way out of the difficulty : these three reverses with the lynx go back to a common original, which may have been designed by some one else to whom the young marquis entrusted the working-out of his imp rese.

There is no valid reason, then, for denying that Amadeo's medals of Leonello and Borso were made before the death of Niccol6 III, which took place on December 26, 1441. He had no com- mission, we may suppose, to do the portrait of the old marquis, but we may well believe that he would, for his own satisfaction, make an attempt at it. The monogram and the crown together were probably elements in the artist's idea of a reverse design. Afterwards, we suppose, he incised the inscription on the obverse, and also made a reverse design consisting of the three Gothic letters, N. M. P. (Can it be that these mean Nicolaus Marchio Pater? If Latin of an equally canine order were not common on Italian medals, and if it did not otherwise appear that Amadeo had commissions especially for the portraits of the sons of Niccol6, we should hesitate to make the suggestion.) Finally, coming perhaps under the influence of Pisanello,

to Hill, op. cit. p. 148.

i"Armand, I, 262; III, Ioo, B. This medal may even be of Flemish and not Italian origin.

7 Armand, III, 94, A. 18 Hill, ' Pisanello,' pp. Io4, 105. 19 The last letter has been read F (Ferrariensis) and E (Estensis).

It is certainly P. What it may mean we are unable to suggest with confidence; but a conjecture is made below.

M 147

Some Italian Medals he made the better medal (P1. III, 5) in which the hideousness of Niccolb's cranium is disguised by a cap. But it is to be noticed-a small point-that on all these the inscription gives the name of the marquis in the genitive, Nicolai, not, as is usual in the official medals of the time, in the nominative.

It only remains to say that the accredited medals of Leonello and Borso by Amadeo da Milano offer support, in point of style, to the attribution here suggested. The resemblance in the treat- ment of the bust, its high relief, and the style of the reverse designs, suggesting, as we have seen, the hand of a goldsmith, are points distinctly in its favour. To be fair, we are obliged to note that the placing of the crown above the artist's initials, and not above the monogram in which the marquis's name is concealed, might be urged against us. The reply is, however, obvious; no argument can be based on the arrangement of the three elements in a mere private memorandum, such as this seems to be.

III PASQUALE MALIPIERO, DOGE OF VENICE (1457-

1462). A medal of this doge by Guidizzani has long

been known,2' and the existence of another suspected. For Friedlinder, in publishing the medals in the Berlin collection and in S. Mark's Library, noted that Cicognara 22 spoke of 'medals' made by Guidizzani for this Doge, comparing them favourably with the medals of Orsato Giustiniani (procurator of S. Mark's in 1459) and of Colleoni ; these he says are opere mediocrissinte, whereas the medals of Malipiero have belli rovesci e degni degli artisti pill chiari. (Modern critics will hardly endorse his judgment as to the com- parative merits of the medals.) Friedlander has suggested that a medal in the library of S. Mark's is by Guidizzani, but it in fact comes from the hand of Pietro da Fano.2 The medal before us (P1. III, 2.), a re-casting in bronze, probably from a lead original," though rough in style, sufficiently represents the artist's manner, and is a distinct addition to our knowledge of his work. The bust of the doge is represented in cap and ducal robes; around is the inscription PASQVALIS. MARI- PETRVS. VENETVM. DIGNISSIMVS. DVX. ET. P. P. On the reverse is the inscription CONCORDIA. AVGVSTA. CONSVLTI. VENE- TIQ: SENATVS; in the exergue S. V. Q. C. and the signature OPVS. MARCI. GVIDIZANI. The design consists of two allegorical figures joining hands, the one holding an olive-branch, the other a palm-branch. These personifications represent, probably, some such conceptions as Peace and Victory, rather than the Great Council

and the Senate. The inscription Coincordia Augusta and the scheme are derived, of course, from Roman coins ;"5 the letters S. V. Q. C. (which seem to be an abbreviation of the last words of the inscription in a different order) are placed in the exergue in the manner of the S. C. on Roman coins. The allusion which this somewhat clumsy adaptation of a Roman idea is intended to convey is not quite clear; but it must be remembered that the deposi- tion of the Doge Francesco Foscari, to whom Malipiero immediately succeeded, had been effected by the Council of Ten in conjunction with the Privy Council and a Giunta of twenty-five of the Senate. On the other hand it appears 26 that the Ten refrained from using their influence in the election of the new doge ; so that the two bodies whose Concordia is alluded to are perhaps the Maggior Consiglio and the Senate.27

The last point of interest to be noted in this medal is that it alone gives the full name of the artist. Whether there is other documentary authority for his name Marco, or whether it was only by a judicious conjecture, or by a knowledge of the drawing mentioned below, that Fabriczy was able in this respect to forestall the evidence of the medal now published, we do not know.

We may here add the substance of a letter from Count Papadopoli bearing on the subject.28 In a collection of drawings and engravings of medals made by Cav. Lazari, formerly Director of the Museo Civico at Venice, under No. 693, is a rough sketch of the medal in question, with the note: 'I explain the abbreviations Senatus Veneti Que Cives.' Count Papadopoli points out that at Venice the citizens took no part in public manifestations. He remarks that the dogate of Pasquale Malipiero was characterized by no remarkable event to which the reverse of the medal can be referred, unless it be the League between the rulers of Christendom promoted by Pius II; the Venetian Republic sent ambassadors to Mantua, where the pope was, to express its adhesion to this League. In any case the legend remains, he thinks, unintel- ligible, since the word

coitsultum in the sense of

council or deliberative body is not to be found in the dictionaries, and, so far as he knows, was never used at Venice.

21 Friedliinder, p. 85, no. 3. 22 V. 412. a Armand, III, 5 B. I Diam. 91 mm. Rosenheim collection.

25 Laurana uses the same inscription with a personification of Concord, directly borrowed from Roman coins, on his medal of Louis XI (Fabriczy, Eng. trans. Pl. VIII, 3); and Cristoforo di Geremia made a similar transcript in his medal of Augustus (ibid, p. I58). 6 Romanin, iv, 292. 2 The order of the words in the legend shows, to begin with that the medallist's Latinity was not his strong point. He appears to intend Consulti for a genitive singular. There is not much authority for the use of consultum in the sense of concilium; and it is to be suspected that he intends it for the genitive of the fourth declension substantive consultus, which was sometimes used in the sense of 'council.'

28 We desire to express our thanks to Count Papadopoli and also to Mr. William Miller of Rome, who communicated our difficulty to him.

148

Some Italian Medals IV

PAUL II Bust of Paul II to 1. in tiara and cope. Around

in fine bold lettering, + PAVLVS ?

VENETVS ?

PP " MCCCC LXIIII. (The stops between the words are lozenges with incurved sides; the letter N is retrograde ; after the fourth C of the date is a small mask.)

Rev. Cross-keys surmounted by tiara. Bronze, 94 mm. Rosenheim collection. P1. IV, 2.

At the top and bottom of this piece are the marks of some kind of attachments which have been broken away. At first sight they suggest that the piece is cast from some huge bulla, and that they represent the points where the tapes issued from the original. But the extremely fine casting and thinness of the piece preclude this hypothesis. Nor for the same reason can it be surmoiule on a morse, apart from the fact that the attachments would probably in that case have been at the sides and not at the top and bottom. We publish the piece for what it is-a fine decorative cast medallion of the pope-and hope that further research will be able to explain the object for which it was intended. The portrait on the obverse bears a certain resem- blance to the medal of Sixtus IV attributed to Guazzalotti.

V GUGLIELMO BATONATTI

Bust to 1. in close-fitting cap and coat. Around, GVILIELMVS BATONATTI [E]TAT. SVE ANO. 33.

Rev. A unicorn springing to 1.; above, a tau- cross; all in a wreath. Bronze, 40 mm. Rosen- heim collection. P1. III, I.

This medal, previously known from a defective and smaller casting in the Dreyfus collection," has been wrongly described as representing 'Gugl. Battista Natti.' It is a work of the Roman school, of the last quarter of the fifteenth century, and belongs to a group which has been associated with the medallist Lysippus.30 This group includes a number of young Roman clerics and officials of the Curia. We may mention as coming close in style to the piece before us the medals of Bernardo Gamb...... of 1485,'1 Diom. Caraffa,S3 the young Candida, and Rafael Riario. The attribution of these to Lysippus himself is by no means proven. The tau-cross and the unicorn of the reverse are presumably emblems of a religious life and chastity.

VI GALEOTUS FERREUS URSINUS

Bust to r., bearded, in cloak. Around, GALEOTUS FERREVS VRSINVS.

Rev. A serpent holding an inflated sail. Around, PVER DVMQ SENEX. Bronze, 45 mm. Rosenheim collection. Pl. IV, I.

This medal, which by its style must be dated about 1500, offers many puzzles. To the identity of the person we have no satisfactory clue. He does not seem to be a member of the many- branched Orsini family, and it is not easy to explain Ursinus as giving the name of the place where he was born.3 It is worth noting that the name Galeotus Ferreus or Galeotto dal Ferro was borne, at a much later date, by a lawyer, a native of Padua, who taught at Salerno and Messina, and died in his native city in 1614. Possibly the man represented here was an ancestor of his. Researches made at Padua through the kindness of Prof. Giacomo Tropea have failed to discover any Paduan celebrity of this name as early as our medal. The meanings of the device and motto on the reverse are obscure. The Latin declines to be construed according to classical rules, and we can only suggest that the inventor of the motto supposed dumnque to be the Latin for the Italian dunque. Even then the sense is not very clear. But obviously the reference is to some antithesis between youth and age, such as is intended by the impresa on the reverse of one of Pisanello's medals of Leonello d'Este. There again we have a sail, but it is on a mast, beside which are seated a young and an old man-emblems, apparently, of youth and age.34 Possibly the sail is shorthand for the ship of life, that steers its course from youth to age; and the serpent symbolizes the wisdom which takes advantage of every favouring breeze.

VII THE MEDALLIST, GIOVANNI FALIER

Dr. Bode was the first 51 to publish a medal with the full signature lOANNIS FALETRO. It is a unique medal of a Presbyter Marcus in the Simon collection at Berlin. The artist's name is stated, on Dr. Ludwig's authority, to have been Giovanni Falier. This is not, however, the only work that we have from his hand; for the signature 4 F, which appears on a well-known medal of Andrea Gritti, procurator of S. Mark's, is his (P1. IV, 3). The 0 is no Greek letter, as has usually been sup- posed, but is a monogram of the letters I O. On good specimens it will be seen that the lower part of the ring goes over, the upper part under, the vertical stroke, showing that we have here not one letter, but two; so that the signature is really IO. F. As regards style, there is a very distinct resemblance between the obverses of the Presbyter Marcus and the Gritti medals, in relief, in compo- sition, and in the treatment of the hair.

29 Armand, II, 76, 15 (37 mm.). 30 Fabriczy (Eng. trans.), p. I61. 31 Arm., II, 64, 15. 32 Bode in ' Zeitschr. f. bild. Kunst,' xv., p. 39.

33 Ursinium in Corsica (Ajaccio) would hardly produce the adjectival form Ursinus !

3* Hill, ' Pisanello,' p. 146. 85 In the 'Zeitschr. fir bildende Kunst,' xv. (1904), P. 40.

'49

Some Italian Medals The date of the Gritti medal must be fixed

between 1509, when he became procurator of San Marco, and 1523, when he was elected doge. But it is possible to fix the date more exactly. The reverse represents the siege of a city ; a breach is apparent in the walls. The man on horseback is undoubtedly Gritti himself. In 1512 he took Brescia and Bergamo for the emperor from the French; on the other hand, four years later, in i516, he recaptured Brescia for the French from the emperor. We are surely justified in assuming that the reverse refers to one or the other of these successes, and the medal therefore dates from 151 2 or 1516.

VIII 'ANDREA MAGNO, PRAEFECT OF PADUA

Bust to 1. with short, square-trimmed beard and moustache, lank hair, wearing close-fitting robe with sash over shoulder, and cap. Around, ANDREAS MAGNVS PRAEFECTVS PADVE (a leaf as final stop). Bronze, 63 mm. Rosenheim collection. P1. IV, 5.

Andrea Magno, a member of the famous Venetian family, and himself a person of great political importance, was made governor of Padua in September, 1520; his successor, Francesco Donado, was elected in February, 1522, and Andrea returned to take part in Venetian affairs in July of that year." This medal therefore dates between the end of 1520 and the middle of 1522.

Pomedello's medal of Stefano, Andrea's son, is dated 15i9. The medal before us, which has many admirable qualities, presents strong analogies in the treatment of the hair, dress, etc., to various pieces by Pomedello and Giulio della Torre. For the official dress with the sash we may compare the portraits by Pomedello of Tommaso Mauro, governor of Verona, by della Torre-of Bartolommeo Socini, and by Gambello of Giovanni Bellini. In lettering this medal is particularly close to one by della Torre representing the painter Caroto.1Y Nevertheless, as Pomedello did the portrait of the son about a year before this medal was made, we are perhaps on surer ground if we attribute it to him rather than to della Torre.

IX SIR JOHN CHEKE

Bust to r., draped in antique fashion, with bulla on r. shoulder; long beard, hair short. Across the field IOANNES CHECVS. No reverse. Bronze, 54 mm. Rosenheim collection. P1. IV, 4. This medal, which is the work of an accomplished, though somewhat academic, medallist, represents the celebrated English humanist, John Cheke (1514-1557). None of the other known portraits seems to represent him in profile, but com- parison with the engraved portrait in Henry Holland's 'Heroologia,' and another small en- graving in the British Museum representing him as professor at Strassburg, leaves no doubt as to the identity of the person. These engravings are nearer to the medal than the portrait in Strype's 'Life,' and the portrait by Fittler, after Skelton's drawing from a picture at Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, in which the nose is rather more aquiline. For the original suggestion that ' Ioannes Checus' is Sir John Cheke we are indebted to Mr. C. R. Peers. Before the identification of the portrait, we had already inclined to the view that, if the medal is Italian, as it certainly seems to be, it must represent some literary man of Padua, of the first half of the sixteenth century. Although the method of placing the legend across the field is most unusual on Italian medals of this period, the treatment otherwise suggests the Paduan classiciz- ing school. It is satisfactory, therefore, to find that Sir John Cheke was at one time at Padua. In 1554 he received a royal licence to travel abroad. He spent some time at Basel, and eventually made his way to Italy; and we find him at Padua, lecturing to Englishmen on Demosthenes. Then he returned to Strassburg, which he left early in 1556 in order to return to England. There can be little doubt that the medal was made at Padua (the only place in Italy mentioned by Strype in connexion with his travels, and evidently the place where he spent most of his time) in 1555. In spite of the peculiarity already noticed, the medal is much more likely to have been made in Italy than in Basel or Strassburg, the only cities out of Italy in which Cheke sojourned long while abroad.

SMarino Sanuto, ' Diarii,' xxix, 146; xxxii, 445; xxxiii, 38. 2 Friedliinder, P1. XX, 14.

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