Medal: Giovanni de'Medici delle Bande Nere
Francesco da Sangallo Italian
Not on view
On the obverse is a portrait of the condottiere Giovanni
de’ Medici delle Bande Nere (1498 – 1526), and on the
reverse is his impresa of a winged thunderbolt. The medal may date to 1570 on the basis of
striking similarities in style and composition with two
other Medici medals, representing Gian Giacomo
de’ Medici (inscribed 1555 for his year of death) and
Cosimo de’ Medici, the son of Giovanni de’ Medici delle
Bande Nere (inscribed 1570). All three
medals could have formed part of a propaganda series,
planned by Cosimo in or about 1570 to honor his family.
The significance of the inscribed date 1522 remains
unclear. The year does not seem to commemorate any
specific moment in Giovanni’s career. Sangallo’s undated
marble bust of Giovanni is in the Museo Nazionale del
Bargello, Florence. This sixteenth-century cast is sharp
and well defined.
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