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NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS1--VITHREE WAX MODELSt BY G. F. HILL

HAT the wax models madeby medallistsshould be exces-sively rare is not a matter forsurprise. Apartfrom the fra-gility of the material,we haveto reckon with the fact thatin one of the most usual pro-cesses of making medals thewax model was actually destroyed,for the essenceof the cire perdue method was to melt out themodel from the mould in which it was enclosed.That was probablythe most usual process in thefifteenth century. At a later period artistsbeganto realize that the wax had some attractions of itsown, and medallists like Pastorino of Siena andLeone Leoni and the Poggini began to work inthis material nearly as much for its own sake aswith the object of casting medals from the modelsthus made. From this it was only a step to

modelling wax portraitswithout any sort of inten-tion of reproducing them as medals. Thus wearrive at the coloured wax medallions (very com-monly of the oval shape preferred by miniaturepainters) of the second half of the sixteenthcentury.Good instances of these are the portraits byAntonio Abondio of the Emperor MaximilianIIand his Empress Maria, in the Miinzkabinet atMunich ; others may be seen in various collec-tions, such as the portraits of Philip II, Elizabethof France and Don Carlos, belonging to Mr.Salting, and exhibited in the Victoria and AlbertMuseum. The oval portrait of Michelangelo,which its close resemblance to the medal byLeone Leoni proves to be from the Milaneseartist'shand, belongs to the same class.-Dr. Habich believes that the twowax medallionsat Munich were designs for certain medals of thetwo persons represented: 'sorgfalltiger nachge-arbeiteteund reicherausgestatteteEntwfirfezu denbeiden Medaillen,' not originally made for theirown sake,but as medal-models. It is not quiteclear whether he supposes that medals wouldactually have been cast from these wax portraits,which were subsequently elaborated into theirpresent highly finished form. The probabilitiesseem to me to be against such a supposition; and

at anyrate one cannot point to any existing medalwhich supportsit.Another remarkablework by the same artist,Antonio Abondio, stands in a different category.This is a largeportraitof the Emperor MaximilianII (generally mis-called Rudolph II), in theSammlung der kunstindustriellenGegenstande inVienna; perhaps,says Dr. Habich, the richest andfinest piece of work of the kind that we possess.It is modelled in coloured wax on black obsidian.'Lead casts from this model, or from one closelyresembling it, exist in the British Museum and theMiinzkabinetat Munich. Of these the specimenin the British Museum (diameter120omm.) appearsto be the better, the Munich cast having beenconsiderably cut down, so that the edge of themedal comes near to the Emperor's head, insteadof being some i5mm. distant from it. Otherwisethe two casts agree, and for our present purpose itis of interestto note that they agree in differingfrom the wax model, which must have beentouched up and modified in various details(forinstance, on the breastplate)after the casts hadbeen made. These modifications were doubtlessin part renderednecessary by damage caused inmaking the mould.None of the models which I have mentionedcan however compare in point of antiquity withthe firstof the pieces described below, to which1 now proceed.'

I. GIACOMONEGROBONT.Bust of Giacomo Negroboni to right, bearded,bare-headed,inarmour;around,IACOB NIGRO-BONIVS BRIXIANVS.Rev.The lion of St. Markstanding to the left, onrocky ground, holding a banner inscribed S C;inscription: VIRTVS MILITVM.On wood (probablycypress?) in darkgray wax.Diameter90 mm. OppenheimerCollection. Seeplate, No. I,The most remarkable feature of this mostremarkablemodel is the testimony which it bearsto the artist's elaborate care in the matter oflettering. Having procuredhis circularpanel, themedallist laid down on each side of it a strip ofvellum, makinga band of 15 mm. wide round thecircumference,except where he did not intend toplace any lettering. With a compass he incisedtwo circles to regulate the height of his letters.Such incised circles are well known to everystudent of medals, for they of course reappear inthe eventual cast. Not content with this, he drew

1For previousarticlesin the series for which the above titleis now, for the sake of uniformity,adopted,see BURLINGTONMAGAZINE,Vol. ix, p. 4o08(September,19o6); Vol. x, p. 384(March, 1907) ; Vol. xii, p. 141 (December, 19o7) ; Vol, xiii,P. 274 (August, 190o8);Vol. xiv, p. 210 (January, i909).aPublished by Habich in Helbing's 'Monatsberichte,'i,p. 401. On pp. 402 ff. are some interesting remarkson thehistoryof modellingin wax.3This has been fully describedby Fortnumin the ' Archaeo-logicalJournal,'Vol. xxxii,withillustrations. Cp.E. Plon, ' LesMaitres italiens au service de la Maison d'Autriche: LeoneLeoni et Pompeo Leoni,'pp. 270f. It is now in the BritishMuseum(Dept.of BritishandMediaevalAntiquities).

* Domanig, 'Die Medaillen des Erzhauses Oesterreich'Taf. X. I.5Mythanksare due to Mr.Henry Oppenheimerfor his per-missionto publish the two models from his collection,and toMr.MaxRosenheim, who firstcalledmy attentionto all threemodels,andhas, asusual,allowedme to profitby his criticisms.c 3'

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Notes on Italian Medalsradii from the centre to the circumference,to fixthe axes of his letters. These lines were drawn,notincised; they are plainly visible on the reverse,barely so on the obverse,and would not repeatinthe cast. He then drew his letters in ink on thevellum; and over the drawninscriptionhe modelledeach letterseparatelyin wax. Onlywherethe waxhas broken away, as in the I of 'Iacobus,' thetriangular stop, or the B of 'Brixianus,' can theoriginal drawing be seen. The bust and the typeof the reverse were modelled direct on the panel.No medal from this model is known to exist,and it is very doubtful whether it was ever usedforthepurposefor which it wasoriginallyintended.The type of the reverseindicates that GiacomoNegroboni of Brescia held a command in theVenetian army. The letters S C, it need hardlybe remarked,mean 'Senatus Consulto.'There can be little doubt that the person repre-sented is Giacomo Negroboni da Valtrompia,who played a prominent part in the attempt towrest Brescia from the French in 1512. He diedon 23rd April, 1527, having served the VenetianRepublic for forty-five years, both in the impresadi Bresciajust mentioned, and as commandantinvariousgarrisonsin the Levant,in Padua,Cremonaand Rocca d'Anfo.6The portraitmust have been made, to judge byits style as much as by the age of the subject,towards the end of Negroboni's life, and probablyby a North Italian artist,though it does not comevery close to the work of any known medallist.It is in high relief,and boldness and downrightnessof treatment help to compensate for a certainlack of refinement which might be urged againstit. One feels that it must be an admirableportraitof the stout soldier who was readyto see his sonhanged rather than surrender to the enemy thefortress which lie was holding for the VenetianRepublic. 2. BARBARAROMANA.Bust of Barbarato left, wearinga veil and pearlsin her hair, necklace, and corsage cut square; thearms are truncatedat the shoulders,but the handis seen holding a piece of draperyto her breast;inscr. A BARBARIE A RO A Bead and reel border.Rev. A hunter and nymphs. Above, a horseman, wielding a sword, and accompanied by twomen on foot, and by a second horseman (only thehead and forelegs of the second horse visible)gallops in pursuitof a stag, which is being pulleddown by a hound; below, four female figuresbathing; at the side, figureof Cupidon a pedestal.Bead and reel border.On black slate. White wax. Diameter,52 mm.Rosenheim Collection. See plate, No. 2.The medal made from this model is describedby Armand (II, 219, 27), from a specimen in the

Louvre,7as reading BARBARAE. BO. If weexamine the model, we shall see that the third R(that of RO)is not of the same shapeas the others,and has every appearanceof having been alteredfrom a B. It is to be presumed that the BO wasan error,and that the correction in the model wasinserted after at least one cast had been made.Other casts were made from the model after thecorrection, for a specimen in the BritishMuseum,like a poor surmoulagefrom the Armand-Valtoncollection now in the Bibliothbque Nationale,follows the model in every particular.Barbara,therefore,probably belonged to Romerather than to Bologna, for RO is more likely torepresentROMAN.E than a family name such asR6. It is unnecessaryto enter here into specula-tions as to her charactersuggested by the use of alocal ratherthan a family name; it is enough tosaythat she seems to rankwith 'LucretiaRomana,'' Cornelia Siciliana,' 'Philena Perugina,' and anumber of other prettywomen of whom we knownothing more than their medals tell us.The scene on the reverse,which at first sightseems to be inspired by the story of Actaeon,turns out on examinationto have little to do withit. No one of the four women bathing seems tobe distinguishedas Diana, and the introductionofthe Leda motif forbids us to think of the chastegoddess. A huntsmanarmedwith a sword is also,to say the least, peculiar. The subject must forthe presentremainunidentified.The work is very delicate, though its meritsas acomposition may not be high. Its date is doubt-less, as Armand has decided, the third quarter ofthe sixteenth century. The bead and reel borderis extremelyuncommon at this time, or indeed onmedals of any kind; I am unable to adduceanother instance.

3. ANTONIoGALATEO.Bust of Antonio to right, bare-headed,bearded,wearing coat with falling collar, buttoned downthe front; inscription,ANTONIVS GALATEVSAPearled border. Incised compass lines for theinscription. No reverse.On black slate. White wax. Diameter, 71 mm.OppenheimerCollection. See plate, No. 3.The medal for which this model was made isknown from Mazzuchelli.8 On the reverse areMars seated and Venus standing beside him.Mazzuchelli identified the person as AntonioFerrari, called Galateo, doctor of medicine andman of letters,who was born in 1444, and died in15I7. Armand (II, 109, 15) notes this identi-fication, but remarks at the same time that,to judge by the costume-we may go furtherand say: by the whole style of the medal-the piece should rather belong to the third

6 O. Rossi, 'Elogi histor.di Bresciani' (1620),pp, 263, 264.7M. Carle Dreyfus, however, kindly informs me that nosuchmedalis or ever has been in the Louvre.8I, xxxviii,2. Thereis a surmoulagein the BritishMuseum.

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WAX MOD[LSI OR MEI)ALS

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Noteson Italian Medalsquarterof the sixteenth century. If the identifi-cation is correct, the medal must be a restora-tion; but the model before us has so much theappearanceof being a portraitfrom the life,that itis difficult not to suspect an error in the identifi-cation. Now Antonio had a son of the same name;and it is this person with whom I would identifythe portraitbefore us. When the elder Antoniodied in 1517,theyoungerwas left his sole heir,butlittle else seems to be known about him.9 It is

obvious that on chronological grounds themedal is more likely to represent him than hisfather. In style the piece, especially on itsreverse,of which the wax-model is unfortunatelynot preserved, approaches Leone Leoni morenearly than any other medallist; it would, how-ever, be rash to attribute it to him withoutfurtherevidence.

SJo.Bapt. Pollidorus,in Calogiera's Raccoltad'Opuscoli,'T. ix, pp. 306,329. The sons of AntonioGalateoare enumerated

in this order: Marcantonio,Galeno,Antonio; so that the sonwith whom we are concerned was presumablythe youngest.Pollidorus refers to various sources of informationwhich areinaccessibleto me,and which may give further details favour-able or unfavourableto the proposedidentification.

THE GOLDEN FLEECE EXHIBITIONi BY A. VAN DE PUT caHE Exposition de la Toisond'Orwill long be rememberedamong the most remarkableof an era of ambitious artassemblages. The originalityof the idea, the appropriate-ness of the locality and thehistorical charm of the ex-hibits, combined to effect that which the extensionof the exhibition's scope beyond the illustriouscomity it was primarily designed to celebrate,could not impair or appreciably weaken. Theantiquary, the armorist or the historical studentmight lament this departurefrom the main ideaof the exhibition, because it tended to dissipateupon another objective, to which an exhibitionhad already been devoted, the organizing energywhich should have been expended, on so rarean occasion, upon the central idea alone. Butby a remarkable reassertion of historic fact,that transpired which even the most ferventpartisanof a dual objectivecould not have entirelyforeseen. The Order of the Golden Fleece, thedeterminatingcircumstances of whose nationalityare habitually overlooked': which is held to beexclusively Spanish or exclusively Austrian, andwhich became a bone of contention betweenthesepowers; whose foundation can be claimed byFrench writersfor a male descendant of St. Louisand a peer of France; was seen, in the greatmajority of the works of artgatheredat Bruges,tobe dejure of Netherlandish origin. To vindicateNetherlandishand more especially Belgian nation-ality for the order during the period concerned, isin these days to put back the hands of the clock.An unprejudicedvisitor strolling throughthe exhi-

bition found there, nevertheless, tangible confir-mation of certain facts following the birth of theorderat Bruges in 1430 (N.S.): its devolutionfromthe Burgundian to the Imperial and Spanishhouses, with the Low Countries; the holding ofonly four out of twenty-two Chapters outside theNetherlands (-430-1559); and the large contin-

gent of knights yielded by Netherlandish houses.Though the sovereign of the order might residein Spain or at Vienna, though his life might bespent as was Charles V's, in touring his Europeandominion, the hereditaryconnexion of the LowCountries, their nobiliary and heraldic system,with the Fleece, was such as would inevitablyresult in an impressionof singularnationalhomo-geneity, in any representative collection of theorder's relics. To admit this is to approve thescheme of the presentpublication,'which is verylargely devoted to Netherlandish works of art.The memorial issued by the enterprisingBrusselshouse, Van Oest,which was seen to be a necessaryproject long before the exhibition closed its doors,leaves nothing to be desired in the qualities ofbook production, on the score of its illustration(photogravureand phototype plates), or, generally,of adequatecommentaryupon theobjects selected.A preface contributed by Baron Kervyn deLettenhove paves the way to cataloguesraisonniscontributed by Messrs. P. de Mont (paintings),J. Van den Gheyn (MSS.), J. Florit y Arizcun(tapestryand embroidery),L. Maeterlinck(sculp-ture), C. L. Cardon (goldsmiths' work), Macoir(armour), Baron A. van Zuylen van Nyevelt(blazons), V. Tourneur (numismatics), and A.Mesdagh (seals).Monsieur Pol de Mont is responsible for thetwo sections of portraits and of religious andgenre paintings, the former illustrated by thirty-eight plates. That merely a section of theportraits have been reproduced, is the only fea-ture of the book which invites criticism. Alwaysadmitting that the collection of painted portraitsof between forty and fifty different knights otherthan sovereigns of the order, brought together,was not an extraordinarymuster,it is yet a pitythey have not all found reproduction. The entiresection in half-tone would have been of greater

',Les Chefsd'CEuvred'Artancien' l'Expositionde la Toisond'Or,f Bruges en 1907.' Bruxelles (VanOest). In portfolio,120ofrs.; bound, 125 frs.35