Medal: Self-portrait
The obverse shows a half-length, frontal self-portrait
with the sitter’s head turned left and holding a syrinx in
his right hand; the reverse is incused. This very painterly
medal could have been made at the occasion of Ruspagiari’s
appointment as superintendent of the mint at Reggio
nell’Emilia in 1571. The age of the sitter is about forty-five so the medal may date
to about 1566.The composition was based
on a drawing of a female bust attributed to Lelio Orsi
(Galleria Estense, Modena), which Ruspagiari could
have transformed into a self-portrait. By doing so he
deliberately played with his sexual identity, possibly
intending himself to be seen as an uomo universale shaped
after Plato’s androgyne. The drawing may have been made by Orsi after the medal. The weak aftercast may date to the eighteenth or nineteenth century.
with the sitter’s head turned left and holding a syrinx in
his right hand; the reverse is incused. This very painterly
medal could have been made at the occasion of Ruspagiari’s
appointment as superintendent of the mint at Reggio
nell’Emilia in 1571. The age of the sitter is about forty-five so the medal may date
to about 1566.The composition was based
on a drawing of a female bust attributed to Lelio Orsi
(Galleria Estense, Modena), which Ruspagiari could
have transformed into a self-portrait. By doing so he
deliberately played with his sexual identity, possibly
intending himself to be seen as an uomo universale shaped
after Plato’s androgyne. The drawing may have been made by Orsi after the medal. The weak aftercast may date to the eighteenth or nineteenth century.
Artwork Details
- Title: Medal: Self-portrait
- Artist: Alfonso Ruspagiari (Italian, Reggio Emilia 1521–1576 Reggio Emilia)
- Date: model ca. 1566 or 1571 (cast 18th or 19th century)
- Medium: Bronze (Copper alloy with chocolate
brown patina). - Dimensions: Diam. 7.8 cm, wt. 119.31 g.
- Classification: Medals
- Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
- Object Number: 1975.1.1313
- Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection
More Artwork
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Alfonso Ruspagiari
1521–1576
Bartolomeo Vivarini
ca. 1465
Osservanza Master
ca. 1435
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
ca. 1455–60
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
ca. 1455
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