Medal: Leonello d'Este
Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) Italian
Not on view
Active in Verona and the Italian courts, the celebrated master Pisanello left behind a significant legacy, including a large corpus of drawings, several paintings, and the devopment of the Renaissance portrait medal. Inspired by Roman coins, with their portraits of rulers and allegorical representations on the reverse, the medals commemorated individuals or events and functioned as gifts and mementoes. The obverse depicts Leonello d’Este (1407 – 1450), marquess of Ferrara. The reverse shows a triple-faced infant symbolizing Prudentia, flanked by pieces of armor hanging from olive branches. There are deliberate mutilations in the metal on the obverse, made with standard types of metalsmith’s punches. The aftercast possibly dates from the sixteenth century.
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