THE MEDALLIST LYSIPPUS c BY G. F. HILL ,

HE medallist whose works it is the object of this paper to discuss was one of the minor artists who worked at Rome in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. His real name is unknown, for it has been doubtless rightly pre-

sumed that 'Lysippus the Younger,' as he was pleased to call himself, is a pseudonym. He was dis- interred from complete obscurity by Julius Fried- linder,1 who found him mentioned by Raphael Maffei da Volterra2 as a nephew of Cristoforo di Geremia, and as the artist of a medal of Sixtus IV. Since then other scholars have endeavoured to reconstruct his oeuvre from the somewhat scanty evidence available.3 The time has, I think, now come for a reconsideration of the various attribu- tions which have been made, with a view to sifting the certain from the doubtful or impossible.

All these attributions rest ultimately on the basis of two medals, one of which is known only from an engraving of the early seventeenth century. This engraving was reproduced by Friedlinder in the text of his book. As his block does scant justice to the original, a fresh reproduction is given here (P1. I, i).4

i. It represents the bust of a young man, Giulio Marascha (IVL "

MARAS ' OPTIM.

INDOL "

ADOL'), to 1., wearing a cap. On the reverse is

a wreath enclosing the inscription LYSIPPVS AMICO OPTIMO, above and below which are ivy leaves.

2. The second medal (P1. I, 2) bearing the artist's name is fortunately extant in a unique specimen now in the Bibliotheque Nationale.5

It represents the laureate bust of Marinus Phile- thicus,' Poeta Lau(reatus) et Eques Com(es) Pal- (atii)', who was Professor of Greek at Rome in 1473. On the reverse is a pelican ' in her piety,' and the signature EPIPON AYIIIIIIOY NEOTEPOY. The type is copied from Pisanello's well-known medal of a much more distinguished scholar, Vittorino da Feltre. The use of a Greek inscrip- tion is no doubt due partly to the suggestion of the artist's pseudonym (' il se piquait de litt6rature grecque' says M. de la Tour," and he uses Greek inscriptions on one or two other medals), but it may also be a compliment to the Professor of Greek.

We notice in one or both of these two medals the following peculiarities: the strongly curved truncation of the bust, running to a sharp point, especially in front; the comparative poverty of invention in the reverse designs (the device of an inscription in a conventional wreath is frequently employed by the artist, and is only redeemed from utter banality by the fineness of the lettering); the occasional use of triangular stops, and the two ivy-leaves.

These leaves, used separately in the medal of Giulio Marascha, are not mere stops. For they occur, joined on one stalk, on a small group of medals, which no one can hesitate on indepen- dent grounds to assign to the same hand as made the medals of Marinus Philethicus and Giulio Marascha. They may be regarded, in fact, as a form of signature. Of the medals thus dis- tinguished, by far the most important, and both by its treatment and by its sentiment the .most pleasing of all the artist's works, is a piece which has not hitherto been recognized as his :-

3. Obv. Bust of young man to left, with curly hair, wearing cap, and robe over vest buttoned down the front; around, DI LA IL BEL VISO, E QVI IL TVO SERVO MIRA; below, two ivy-leaves on a stalk. Moulded border.

Rev. Plain. Bronze. 82.5 mm. British Museum.7 P1. I, 3. Neither of the two specimens of this medal

known has any design on the reverse, which we may justly assume was meant to be polished and serve as a mirror." The inscription, ' Behold on the other side your fair countenance, and on this your servant,' has then a charming significance, adding much to the attractiveness of the piece. Nor shall we be rash in regarding the person represented as Lysippus himself; although ex- treme caution may find it desirable to say that

1' Italienische Schaumiinzen,' p. 126. 2 'Comment. Urban.' (15O6) lib. xxi, p. ccc, vo : Christophorus

Mantuanus Paulum II (iconicum numismate expressit), Lysippus vero eius nepos adolescens Xistum iiii. In the margin stands fLysippus Iunior.'

aArmand, ' Mdailleurs de la Renaissance,' i, p. 54; C. von Fabriczy, ' Ital. Medals' (Eng. trans. pp. 159 ff.) ; W. Bode, in a review of Fabriczy's book in 'Zeitschrift f. bild. Kunst,' xv, p. 41.

The chief additions to our knowledge of the subject are due to Dr. von Fabriczy, to whose kindness I am also indebted for much information privately communicated. My thanks for information, or for casts or photographs of medals discussed in the following pages, are also due to the Keepers of the Cabinets of Berlin, Munich, Paris, Vienna, Florence, Milan and Turin, and to Messrs. Bode, Gustave Dreyfus, Salting, Dressel, Supino, de la Tour, Ercole Gnecchi and Bardini; Mr. Max Rosenheim I have to thank in addition for many invaluable suggestions and criticisms.

4 From Mr. Rosenheim's copy of Paul Petau's Antiquariae Supellectilis Portiuncula,' P1. 15. The date on the title-page is 16Io; but it is clear from various bibliographical considerations, into which this is hardly the place to enter, that Pl. 15 is of slightly later origin, having been engraved at some time between 16Io and 1613. The curious statement on the plate that the Lysippus medal was found in a Roman ash-urn in a tomb at Amiens shows that Petau, like most collectors, was occasionally victimized by the persons from whom his antiquities were acquired.

5Armand I, 54.1. Diam. 42 mm. Triangular stops in the inscription.

6 Rev. Num,' 1894, p. 342. 7Cp. Armand II, p. 78, No. 23 (83 mm.). 8 If, like the Munich specimen of one of the Toscani medals, it

was cast in silver, it would be still more effective as a mirror. I had at first supposed that the artist meant to place on the reverse a portrait of the person to whom the medal was presented; I owe the very much neater idea of the mirror to Mr, O, M. Dalton.

274

, 4NRs AiM ICO 2. 5. 2.

SIN VRNTA 4b4RNE ORPTIMOI

4. 5.

9

I L

...

6

MEDALS BY LYSIPPUS

PLA TE I

The Medallist Lysippus he may equally well be some one for whom Lysippus made the medal in order that it might be sent to his innamnorata.

This medal, which for convenience may be called the mirror-medal, has a breadth of treat- ment to which Lysippus, a very variable artist, does not often attain. The moulded border is a feature which we shall meet with in two or three other medals from his hand (Nos. 15, 16, 19).

Three other medals are marked with the ivy- leaves :

4. Giovanni Alvise Toscani. Obv. Bust to 1. of Toscani wearing cap;

around, his name, with title Auditor Cam(erae). Rev. Neptune to front in a chariot drawn over

the waves by two sea-horses, and preceded by two dolphins; he holds a trident and a dolphin, and his cloak flies out behind him. Above, two ivy- leaves on stalk; around, VICTA IAM NVRSIA FATIS AGITVR.

Bronze. British Museum. 43 mm.' Plate I, 4. The significance of the type and legend is alto-

gether obscure; what connexion Toscani can have had with Nursia (famed chiefly as a home of sorcery and as the birthplace of Sertorius and St. Benedict), or Nursia with Neptune, remains to be explained. Giovanni Alvise Toscani was a brilliant young Milanese lawyer, orator and poet, who entered the service of Sixtus IV and died in 1475-10 The two remaining medals with the ivy-leaves are of Francisco Vidal of Noya in Galicia. Thanks to an error which, due apparently in the first instance to the illustration in Mazzuchelli's work, has persisted through all the descriptions of his medals, this Spaniard has been regarded as an unknown Italian of Nola, the word NOIANVS, which is clear on all his medals, being tacitly corrected to NOLANVS. Vidal" was born in Aragon, and was the teacher of Ferdinand the Catholic. He has been identified with 'Francisco Vidal de Naya,' a Syracusan archdeacon and protonotary apostolic, who was appointed prior of the Monastery of the Pillar at Saragossa by Sixtus IV in 1477, although he did not begin to reside there until 1479. He was the author of a trans- lation of Sallust, which he made about 1470. The two medals of him1 which now concern us are :-

5. Obv. Bust to 1., in cap; below, ivy-leaves on stalk ; around, FRANCISCVS VITALIS NOIANVS.

Rev. Androclus and the lion; around, GRATI- TVDO ET BENEFICENTIA.

Bronze. Rosenheim collection. 41 mm.'-" P1. I, 5. 6. Obv. As No. 5. Rev. Arms and crest; above, REGVM PRAE-

CEPTOR. The arms are: quarterly; i and 4, quarterly : per saltire, in chief and point four pales, in each flank an eagle displayed (Sicily) ; 2 and 3, checquy. Crest, a human-headed bull.

Bronze. British Museum. 39'5 mm." Pl. I, 6. Francisco Vidal (who, it will be noticed, was

allowed by his royal pupil to quarter the Sicilian arms) is also known to us from another medal, which will be discussed later among the medals the Lysippean origin of which is doubtful.

This exhausts the list of medals which bear the name or mark (if so the ivy-leaves are to be inter- preted) of Lysippus. To them, without any pos- sible doubt, must be attached the following pieces. A glance at the illustrations in the plates will show the likeness between them and the pieces already described. They vary considerably in merit and in breadth of handling, but not more than is natural with an artist who has not yet found him- self. First come the remaining medals of Toscani.

7. Obv. Bust of Toscani 1. wearing cap; around, IOHANNES ALOISIVS TVSCANVS ADVO- CATVS.

Rev. In a wreath, PREVENIT AETATEM INGENIVM PRECOX.

Bronze. British Museum. 73 mm.15 P1. I, 7. This refers, as already noted, to Toscani's ap-

pointment, while very young, to the post of con- sistorial advocate. The form of the bust on this and the next medal is exactly similar to that on the mirror-medal.

8. Obv. Similar to preceding (in some cases, at least, from the same mould).

Rev. In a wreath, INCERTVM IVRISCON- SVLTVS ORATOR AN POETA PRES- TANTIOR.

Bronze. Rosenheim Coll. 71 mm.1 P1. II, i.

9Armand II. 28. 13. Triangular stops on obverse. Many specimens of this medal are known.

10 Keary's statement (' Guide to the Exhibition of Italian Medals in the British Museum,' No. 62) that he died at an advanced age seems to be based on a misprint. An account of Toscani, who when very young became Consistorial Advocate (to which early promotion the ' Prevenit' medal described below refers), will be found in Argelati, ' Bibl. Script. Mediol.' i. I506, ii. 2037.

11 The information which follows is taken from Montaner y Sim6n,' Diccionario Hispano-Americano,' xxii. 506.

12Besides the third, discussed later, there is yet another described by Armand (iii. 177 E) from a specimen in the Rossi collection. On the reverse of this piece is 'an angel on a human-headed bull' and the inscription ' ANGELVS CVSTOS

-NOLANVS.' We may surmise that NOIANVS should again be read here. The human-headed bull is used by Vidal as his crest (see No. 6 below) and Armand's description of the type suggests that it is inspired by the ancient coins of Naples and other Campanian cities (including Nola, it is true) on which is a Victory flying above and crowning a human-headed bull. Whether this medal is by Lysippus or not I cannot say, having seen no reproduction of it.

1' Armand III, 177 D. Other specimens in the British Museum (39'5), Bologna (39) and Berlin (39 mm.).

14Armand II, 61.15. Another specimen at Paris. Mr. Rosen- heim points out that the treatment of the arms on the reverse is rather Spanish than Italian. The lettering is also slightly different from the lettering on the obverse. Possibly, therefore, this reverse was made at a later date and by a different hand.

15Armand II, 28.11. A specimen in silver is in the Munich Cabinet.

16 Armand II, 28.12.

277

The Medallist Lysippus 9. Obv. Bust of Toscani 1., laureate; around,

IOANNES ALOISIVS TVSCANVS AVDITOR CAM.

Rev. Pallas, helmeted, standing on a dolphin; she rests with her r. on her spear, round which her serpent twines; on her 1. arm is her shield ; in the field, L P; in the exergue, QVID NON PALLAS.

Bronze. British Museum. 34 mm.17 P1. I, 8. The form of the bust in this and the following

medal should be compared with that on Nos. 5 and 6 of Vidal.

10. Obv. Similar to preceding (in some cases, at least, from the same mould).

Rev. Coat of arms; in the field, L P. The arms are a column, on which two keys suspended; in chief, an eagle displayed.

Bronze. British Museum. 34 mm.18 Pl. I, 9. iI. Obv. Similar to No. 7. Rev. None. This piece9 appears to be known only from

Mazzuchelli's engraving, and is perhaps only a reduced copy of the obverse of No. 7 or No. 8.

The letters L P on Nos. 9 and io seem to conceal the name of Lysippus; but what is meant by the second initial ? Friedlinder suggested ' Pictor,' and this has been accepted by Fabriczy. But there is surely little point in a medallist calling himself painter on a medal unless he gives the title in full, as Pisanello did ; for his object is presumably to make it clear to the world that he prides himself on his reputation as a painter. An initial does not effect this object. I prefer to see in it some adjectival place-name, such as Patavinus or Parmensis.

12. Obv. Bust of Francesco Massimi, 1.; around, FRANCISCVS* MAX*

MILES'AC'V* I DOC

Rev. A right hand held in the flames of a burning faggot, surrounded by a scroll inscribed PRO PATRIA; the whole in a wreath.

Bronze. British Museum. 38 mm.20 P1. II, 2. Francesco di Paolo Massimi, knight and doctor

of civil and canon law, was professor at Pisa in 1473 and governor of Benevento from 1495 to 1498. In lettering this medal approaches very closely to the first described medal of Toscani (No. 4). But we notice an attempt to break the line of the truncation of the bust by a small projection. This is faintly perceptible in the medals of Francisco Vidal and of Alfonso Morosini (No. 14), and more strongly marked in the medal of Gianfrancesco Marascha, to which we now come.

13. Obv. Bust of Gianfrancesco Marascha 1., wearing cap; around,

IO" F MARASCHA

ACOLY" ET" L A ABBREVIAT

Rev. Hope standing to front, nude but for drapery which passes in front of her and is upheld

by her arms; in her 1. she holds a cornucopiae, with her r. she points upwards to a star; in the exergue EAIIIZEI.

Bronze. British Museum. 36'5 mm.21 P1. II, 3. Gianfrancesco Marascha, 'acolytus et literarum

apostolicarum abbreviator,' is known to us from Burchard's ' Diary.'"22 He is presumably a relation of Lysippus's other friend, Giulio Marascha.

Here, if it were not a mystification, would be the place to include, as the work of Lysippus, a medal professing to represent Antonio Tebaldeo, a Ferrarese poet born in 1463.3 The British Museum specimen is certainly only a worn speci- men of the medal of Gianfrancesco Marascha; the original inscription, having been purposely or accidentally obliterated, has been replaced by the incised words ANTON' THEBALD'. The speci- men illustrated by Mazzuchelli (unless indeed, as is probable, it is the identical piece now in the British Museum) has been treated in a similar fashion. The portrait of Marascha, in its worn condition, bears a superficial resemblance to the undoubted portrait of Tebaldeo at a greater age on another medal, which is certainly not by Lysippus.

14. Obv. Bust 1. of Alfonso Morosini, wear- ing cap, and (on his breast) apparently an order; around, ALFONSVS MOROSINVS.

Rev. Plain. Bronze. Vienna. 43 mm.2 P1. II, 4. Alfonso Morosini was, presumably, a member

of the great Venetian family, but I have not been able to identify him.

15. Obv. Bust of Antonio de Sancta Maria 1., wearing cap; around, ANTO' DE SANCTA MARIA"

I "V D'COM *PAL

Rev. Arms and crest. Arms: a lion rampant holding a cross; on a chief, an eagle displayed. Crest: an eagle displayed. Moulded border.

Bronze. Bibliothdque Nationale. 38 mm."• P1. II, 5. I am unable to identify this person. 16. Obv. Bust r. of Girolamo Callagrani, wearing

cap; around, HIERONIMVS CALLAGRANVS DE CEVA.

Rev. Arms and crest. Arms, quarterly; I and

'7Arm. II, 28, 14. 18 Arm. II, 28, 15. 9 Arm. II, 29, 16, Diam. (according to the engraving in Mazzuchelli I, xix, 2) 37 mm. 2 Arm. III, 178, D. Triangular stops on obv,

21Armand I, 55.3 ; H. de la Tour, 'Rev. Num.' 1894, P. 342. Triangular stops on obverse. Tr

Ed. Thuasne I, pp. 175 (1486) and 320 (1488). 23 Arm. II, 47.20; Mazzuchelli I, xli, 2. I note that the ex-

planation given in the text of the origin of this medal was arrived at independently by Mr. Warwick Wroth, who has re- corded it in his MS. list of Italian medals in the British Museum.

24 Armand III, 182 C. Other specimens in Paris (44 mm.), Rosenheim (44 mm.) and British Museum collections. Mr. Rosenheim's specimen (like one described in the Welzl von Wellenheim Catal. No. 14,335) is joined to a later reverse (two putti supporting a Medusa-mask); the British Museum speci- men consists of two obverses joined. This medal alone of all by Lysippus shows a compass-mark ruled as a guide for placing the letters of the inscription. A really good specimen does not seem to be known.

25 Cp. Arm. II, 77.21 ; Spitzer Catalogue P1. 39, No. 1,306. Another specimen at Berlin (Simon collection). Triangular stops on obv.

278

TAe Medallist Lysippus 4, a star of 8 points; 2 and 3, a spray of laurel (?). Crest, a lion holding in his paws a star. Moulded border.

Bronze. Turin Museum. 38 mm3? P1. II, 6. Girolamo Callagrani, his medal tells us, was a

native of Ceva, though Ughelli27 describes him as as a citizen of Fossano. Innocent VIII adopted him into the Cibo family, and made him Apostolic Protonotary and Secret Chamberlain. In 1490 he was made Bishop of Mondovi, and held that position until his death in 1497. Such a dignity would naturally have been mentioned on a medal if possible; the medal is therefore to be regarded as earlier than 1490, at least.? Another piece, not by Lysippus, also represents the same man.29 The two medals of Sancta Maria and Callagrani were probably made at the same time, to judge from their very similar treatment. They are among the least satisfactory of the whole series.

17. Obv. Bust of Parthenius 1., wearing cap; around, PARTHENIVS AMICVS.

Rev. A lily growing; across field, FLORESCO CALORE PARTENII.

Berlin. 36.5 mm.30 Pl. II, 7. The Parthenius represented on this medal has

been identified by Armand 3' with Ippolito Aurispa, a Latin poet of Macerata. His authority for the identification is not given, and the only Ippolito Aurispa recorded by Mazzuchelli, 32 though he was a native of Macerata, did not flourish until about 1619, and is not identified with 'Parthenius.' More probably the friend of Lysippus is Bartolommeo Parthenio of Brescia (Benacensis), a good Greek and Latin scholar, who taught publicly at Rome and flourished about 148o-85,3" that is to say exactly at the time demanded by our medal.

18. Obv. Bust of Malitia de Gesualdo 1. wearing cap; around, MAAITIAE IEEOYAAAOYXE. Rev. A male figure, draped in antique fashion, standing before a tree, and raising his right hand; around, MEXPI TOY TEAOYf.

Bronze. Salting collection. 41'5 mm." Pl. II, 8. Malitia de Gesualdo, a Neapolitan by birth, was

Bishop of Rapolla (1482-1488) and secretary of

Innocent VIII. He died in 1488. " This medal was probably made before he became bishop.

19. Obv. Bust of Catelano Casali 1., wearing cap; around, CATELANVS CASALIVS BONO- NIEN'AN XXV" Rev. Half figures of Honour and Truth joining hands, with Love between them; above, HONOR AMOR VERITAS; below, M

CCC" LXXVIII. Moulded border.

Bronze. British Museum. 35 mm.3" P1. II, 9. Catelano Casali of Bologna, jurisconsult and

apostolic protonotary37 was, as the dates on his medal show, born in 1453. He died in 150I. This portrait is sometimes found joined to the contemporary portrait of the Cardinal of St. George, to which we now come.

20. Obv. Bust r. of Raphael Riario, in cap; around, RAPHAEL

ANNORVM' XVII" CAR-

DINALIS S GEORGII. Rev. St. George on horseback piercing the

Dragon; above, VIRTVS (two rosettes as stops); below, ? M

*CCCC" L" XXVIII. British Museum (lead) obv., and Rosenheim

Collection (bronze) rev. 36 mm.?s P1. II, Io. We have now come to the end of the medals which it seems possible with any degree of cer- tainty to attribute to Lysippus. Of those, on the other hand, which have any degree of probability in favour of their attribution, the medal of Candida (P1. III, I) in the possession of M. Gustave Drey- fus easily takes the first place, so broad and sym- pathetic is its treatment. Indeed it far surpasses anything else that we know of Lysippus's work, even the mirror-medal. That is of course no reason for refusing him its authorship. But I find it on other grounds difficult to credit him with this beautiful work, the balance and composition of which (as seen especially in the proportions and arrangement of the lettering with regard to the bust) find no parallel in his authenticated medals. Again, charming as Lysippus can be, his portrait- ure is only skin-deep, and this portrait of Candida betrays an artist of great sympathy and imagina- tion. Heiss attributed it to Candida himself ; and, as Candida was evidently a pupil of Lysippus, the externalities of style which recall the older master are, on this attribution, easily explained. It is by a pupil of greater imaginative power than his master, and Candida was such a pupil. I am in- clined, therefore, to restore the medal to Candida.

The smaller, circular medal of Candida (P1. III, 2) has also been attributed to Lysippus.39 It

26 Arm. II, 64, 13. 27 ' Ital. Sacra,' IV, p. og90. 28 He is constantly mentioned in Burchard's diary from 1484

to 1490 as secretus cubicularius and subdiaconus apostolicus; after his appointment to the See of Mondovi he is not men- tioned, and presumably left Rome.

2 Arm. II, 64, 14. This medal is perhaps by Cristoforo di Geremia, to judge from a cast kindly sent me by Dr. Habich.

30 Arm. II, 77, 17. The Dreyfus specimen measures 35 mm. Triangular stop on obv.

1 III, 179 H; 185 1. 32' Scritt. d'Italia,' s. n. : See J6cher, ' Gelehrtenlexicon.' His edition of Maius was

published in 1485, his Thucydides in 1485 (?). Giuliari, ' Letter. Veron.' p. II6, records his edition of Guarino's Strabo published at Treviso in 1483.

": Rome sale (1904), lot 284. Another specimen, belonging to Dr. H. Dressel, of Berlin, was found in the Tiber; it was evid- ently in admirable condition before it became encrusted.

35 Burchard, ed. Thuasne, I, p. 314; Ughelli, VII, p. 882. 36 Arm. II, 66, 25, Triangular stops. 37 Mentioned by Burchard from 1497 to 1499, and on the occa-

sion of his death, as apostolic protonotary and abbreviator. (III, 112).

38 Arm. II, 57, 18. Triangular stops on obv. 39 First published in ' Le Gallerie Nazionali Italiane,' I (1894),

p. 52, P1. xii, 4. See also H. de la Tour in ' Rev. Num.,' 1895, P. 463; Fabriczy, p. 161.

279

The Medallist Lysippus represents Candida as a youth. M. de la Tour is, I think, inclined to exaggerate the youth of the sitter, who may well be seventeen or eighteen years old, so that, on this score, there is no reason against the attribution of the piece to Candida himself. It is a charming work, but its low relief and delicacy of execution are quite foreign to the style of Lysippus as we know it.

If Raphael da Volterra is right, Lysippus made a medal of Sixtus IV. Attempts have naturally been made to find among the extant medals of the pope something which satisfies our ideas of Lysippus's style. Armand has, with great hesita- tion, suggested an attribution ;40 Dr. von Fabriczy informs me that he considers another medal as the work of Lysippus.4' This latter attribution has one point in its favour; the design of the reverse (two saints placing a crown on the head of the seated pope, with the inscription HEC DAMVS IN

TERRIS'AETERNA DABVNTVROLIMPO) looks like a sort of travesty of some design by Lysippus's uncle, Cristoforo di Geremia. (This will be clear if we compare the elder artist's medal of Alfonso of Aragon on which Victory and Mars crown the king.) But the composition of the reverse is crowded in a way not affected by Lysippus, and the workmanship harsher and more wooden than anything we have seen of him at his worst.

At the risk of adding to the list of conjectural attributions, I venture to attribute to Lysippus the medal of Sixtus IV commemorating the rebuilding of the Ponte Sisto, which was com- pleted in 1475.

Obv. Bust of Sixtus IV, 1. in cope; around, SIXTVS" IIII" PONT"

MAX- SACRICVLTOR Rev. The Ponte Sisto; above, CVRA RERVM

PVBLICARVM. The whole in oak wreath. Bronze (gilt on obverse), British Museum.

40 mm.4- P1. lII, 3. It is obvious that in the case of a series of

medals such as the papal, where a strong tradition prevailed as to the treatment of the portrait, it is not in the obverse but in the reverse design that we must look for an artist's individual characteris- tics. This reverse design may, without exaggera- tion, be said to show certain Lysippean charac- teristics. Apart from the general feeling of the design, we may notice the fine 'Augustan' lettering, the treatment of the water, comparing it with the 'Nursia' medal of Toscani, P1. I, 4, and the wreath (as on the other medals of Toscani, P1. I, 7, II, I). It is, at any rate, impossible to say that there is anything in this design which is either unworthy or uncharacteristic of Lysippus, or above the level of his achievement.

Dr. Bode has attributed to our artist an in- teresting medal of Diomede Caraffa, which is represented here from the specimen in the Bar- gello. 4"

Obv. Bust of Caraffa r. in cap; round, DYOMEDES CARRAFA COMES MATALVNI EXEMPL FIDEI SALP.

Rev. Female figure standing 1.,. holding in 1. cornucopiae, in r. a branch and a staff (round which twines a snake whose head appears over her r. arm ?); at her feet an altar with a serpent rising above it, a small vase, and a wheel (?); in the exergue, FININTANTO; around, ERGA SVVM REGEM ET PATRIAM.

Florence. 40 mm. P1. III, 4. Beside this, on the ground of resemblance in the

treatment of the bust, we must place the third medal of Francisco Vidal :-

Obv. Bust of Vidal r. in cap; behind, a wreath; around FRANCISCVS VITALIS NOIANVS REGIS HISPANIAE MAGISTER.

Rev. Within a conventional wreath the inscrip- tion INGENII DOCTRINAE LEPORISQVE AC PROBITATIS PRINCIPIVM ET CVLMEN.

Paris, Biblioth que Nationale. 39-5 mm." P1. III, 5-

I confess that, on comparing these two medals with those represented on Plates I and II, I find it impossible to regard them as by Lysippus. In some ways the portraits have considerably more character; the lettering, both in itself and in its relation to the types, is completely different. Vidal is here a good deal older than on the medals with the ivy-leaves described above. In a period of some ten years, Lysippus might, it is true, have changed his style considerably. But that is an argument which can only be used successfully when there is documentary evidence for an attribution.

Of this doubtful class of medals, then, I regard the Ponte Sisto medal of Sixtus IV, and M. Dreyfus's portrait of Candida as having a cer- tain presumption to be the work of Lysippus; while the attribution of the rest seems to me very hazardous.

We have still to consider a few medals which, in spite of the authority of such critics as Dr. Bode and Dr. von Fabriczy, I venture to regard as possessing only the most shadowy claim to the

40 Armand I, 56.4. 41Armand II, 62.1. 42 Armand II, 62.3. Keary, 'Guide to Italian Medals,' No.312.

43 Armand III. 176 B : Supino 163. Caraffa became Count of Mataloni in 1465 and of Corretta in 1480. The last four letters of the obverse inscription are very puzzling. If they are omitted the inscription reads intelligibly, being continued on the reverse: exemplum fidei erga suum regem et patriam. The figure on the reverse has some of the attributes of the Roman Salus, and if these four letters were on the reverse they might be interpreted as ' Salus Publica,' Is it possible that the medallist misunder- stood the arrangement of the inscription prescribed for him, transferring to the obverse what ought to have been on the reverse ?

44 Armand II, 61.14.

280

2

4

9,01

Airi fw~

7.7

tott

11, 4)O

MEDALS BY LYSIPPUS

PLATE II

airr

4.

2

i~l7

10000

---m- vi

Ofi

190

IEDALS ATTRIBUTED TO LYSIPPUS

PLATE III

The Medallist Lyssippus authorship ascribed to them.45 In some cases it is hardly possible to give reasons for refusing to acknowledge them as the work of Lysippus, beyond saying that one cannot recognize his hand in them.

The medal of Pier Paolo Millini " (a papal scriptor)47 is interesting, though by no means a first-rate work (PI..I I I, 6). As Mr. Rosenheim points out, rather than anything of the character of Lysippus, it shows various traces of the influence of another medallist, whom we know chiefly through the researches of Dr. von Fabriczy. That is Adriano Fiorentino. The treatment of the bust, with the curious swelling of the shoulder, exag- gerates a characteristic trick of Adriano's. Adriano, again, as in the reverse of the medal of Elisabeth of Urbino, places: his figure on a broad and rather badly rendered mass of rock; here the rocky ground is broader still and worse rendered. His reverse legends tend to brevity; here the legend consists of the single word PERFER. In fact I regard this medal as the work of a mediocre artist of the school of Adriano.

The medal of Lucas de Zuharis (P1. III, 7) has been attributed by Armand I to Ruberto, and that attribution certainly seems to indicate correctly at least the school to which it belongs. Subject, treatment, lettering, relief all point to the neigh- bourhood of Ruberto and L'Antico. We may note, for instance, the ornamental filling of the exergue, recalling the trophy-ornaments character- istic of a series of North Italian plaquettes by

I'F'P', an artist of the school of L'Antico, and by other artists, whose work has been lumped together under the quite incorrect heading ' Melioli.' 4 Neither in relief, in composition, nor in lettering is the style of Lysippus easily recognized in the medal of Giambattista Orsini, on the reverse of

which, with the legend EXPERIOR, is a unicorn purifying a source with his horn."5 Orsini stood high in the favour of various popes from 1471 to 1500, and Lysippus doubtless knew him, but this seems to be the only presumption in favour of the attribution of his portrait to our artist.

A medal of Fabrizio Varano, bishop of Came- rino, has been ascribed by Dr. Bode, with Dr. von Fabriczy's concurrence, to Lysippus.

Obv. Bust of Fabrizio Varano to 1., in cap; around, FABRITIVS VARANEVS CAMERS APO PROTONOTARI.

Rev. Euterpe, leaning against a tree and playing on a pipe; at her feet a large ring or hoop; around, DILECTANS CALAMOS DVLCITER ORE CIET; across the field EYTEPIIH (in cursive characters.)

Bardini collection. 43 mm. P1. III, 8. The traces of the style of Lysippus in this medal

are extremely faint, and comparison with the work of Niccol6 Fiorentino shows that we have to deal with an artist, and a very mediocre artist, of his school. If, for instance, we place the bust on the obverse beside the bust of Lorenzo Tornabuoni,5' and the reverse, with its grotesquely stumpy figure of Euterpe, beside the Florentia reverse of the Lorenzo de' Medici," the affiliation becomes very clear.

Fabrizio Varano was created protonotary apos- tolic by Sixtus IV; in 1482 he became bishop of Camerino. He died in 1508. A medal of this obscure man of letters, with a facing portrait, and the same subject and legend as we have described on the reverse, is given by Litta-'; but, to judge from his engraving, it appears to be a late restora- tion, possibly even of the eighteenth century.

An illustration in the work of Mazzuchelli " records a medal of Giovanni Aurispa. It used to be attributed to Pisanello ; but the portrait of the humanist which Pisanello made was probably a painting rather than a medal.55 Both Armand and Heiss, judging from the illustration, have regarded it as a 'restoration,' which may have been made at the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. Dr. Bode describes it as showing quite clearly the marks of Lysippus's style ('ganz seinen Charakter'), and adds that Lysippus made a medal of Ippolito Aurispa, a relation of the humanist. As we have seen above, the identification of Parthenius with Ippolito Aurispa seems to require verification. It is, of course, impossible to base a decision on Mazzuchelli's reproduction. Fortunately, how- ever, we have better means of judging, for a

45 From information kindly communicated to me by Dr. von Fabriczy, I have learnt that, in addition to the attributions which have already appeared in print, he gives to Lysippus the medal of Sixtus IV (already mentioned) and those of Giambattista Orsini and Lucas de Zuharis, discussed below, while Dr. Bode adds to the list the medals of Marcello Capodiferro and Gian. francesco Rangoni.

46Armand II, 76.14. Diam. 77 mm. Paris and Turin. The Paris specimen is illustrated here.

47 Mentioned as such by Burchard from 1497 to 1499. 48Armand II,

zor.I5. Diam. 40 mm. Other specimens in the

Museo Artistico, Milan, and in the British Museum (lead). 9 For illustrations of a number of these plaquettes see the

Berlin Catalogue of Bronzes, Nos. 960, 961, 962, 963. Mr. Rosenheim points out that the signature on No. 960 is I - F

' P, not I

' F - F - The plaquettes of this class are quite distinct from

those signed 10 F F* F. The signature I ?

F P"

also occurs on some specimens (as in the Dreyfus collection) of the plaquette Berlin 833 = Molinier 257. This artist has much in common with the artist of the medal of Diva Iulia (Arm. I, 81.2), gene- rally supposed to be Ruberto, but conclusively proved by a signature ANTICVS incised on the lower side of the exergual line, in the British Museum and other specimens, to be L'Antico. The whole question of this group of plaquettes and medals, and of the relation between L'Antico and 11 Moderno, remains to be worked out. Dr. Bode has already hinted that L'Antico and II Moderno are the same man-a paradox which, considering the resemblance in style between the works so variously signed, seems to convey a go)d deal of truth. ('Zeitschr. fiir bild. Kunst,' Nov., 1904, p. 37.)

TaArm. II, 16.42. For Orsini's career see Litta-, 'Orsini,' Tav. viii. ~1 Fabriczy, Pl. xxiv, 5. 52 Id., P1. xxiii, I. 53 ' Varano,' Tav. I. 54 , x, 6. 1

For a discussion of this point I may refer to my ' Pisanello,' pp. 188 f,

Y 285

The Medallist Lyszipus specimen of the medal exists in the Museo artistico at Milan. From this it is abundantly clear that the piece is a restoration made in the late sixteenth or seventeenth century. The bust is in high relief, and shows no character whatever ; the lettering is feeble, and the ornaments which help it out are paltry. Mazzuchelli's illustration, for once, is hardly unfair to the original.

The Milan Museum is also the possessor of an apparently unique medal of Gabriel de' Gabrielli, Cardinal of S. Prassede :

Obv. Bust to 1. of the Cardinal, in berretta and hood; around, GABRIEL' CARDINALIS

" S

PRAXEDIS. Rev. In a wreath the inscription KAAON

TEPONTA I KAI TAA J AHNf2N MAOEIN, Milan, Museo artistico. 35 mm. P1. III, 9. This medal Dr. Bode describes as 'probably'

by Lysippus. If he is right, it belongs to a late stage in the artist's development, of which we have no other examples. Gabriel de'Gabrielli, a native of Fano, was made cardinal of S. Prassede in i505. He died in 151i. The medal must, there- fore, have been made between these two dates, and we have no certain work of Lysippus which is as late as this. The Greek inscription on the reverse of the medal is a puzzle ; an iambic senarius seems to be aimed at, but with scant success; and of TAAAHNf2N I can obtain no explanation which will save the metre." This blunder in the Greek is an additional reason for refusing to accept the attribution of the medal to Lysippus.

Finally the medals of Marcello Capodiferro (P1. III, Io) and Gianfrancesco Rangoni8 must, it is to be feared, also be ruled out on grounds of style.

The fact is that Lysippus, an artist of ex-

treme limitations, and perhaps rather an ama- teur than a professional, has, thanks to a certain charm which pervades much of his work, been rated somewhat higher than he deserves. He exhibits, in the twenty or so medals which are certainly from his hand, strongly marked external characteristics, combined with small grasp of personal character. Such artists often show con- siderable facility of execution in portraiture, and generally fail altogether in designing reverses. And to such artists, simply because they offer many points of external contact, it is tempting to attach singly many works which, when brought together, are seen to be mutually incompatible. The incompatibility of the medals reproduced on P1. III can hardly be matter of dispute. In the criticism of the work of a medallist, as of any other artist, one has to proceed from a group of works demonstrably assignable to him on the ground of signature, external peculiarities, or circumstantial evidence. (In this case our base is provided by the medals I to 20.) If the artist is a great artist, from this group we may next extract, so to speak, the idea of him, and so proceed to attribute to him other works which do not necessarily possess the merely external character- istics of the first group. But if, like Lysippus, he is not a great artist, then his style conceals nothing more essential than those external characteristics, and on them, and them alone, can satisfactory attributions be based. The impression that Lysippus leaves on our minds is of an amiable young man, without a strong artistic individuality, and with correspondingly little power of invention, exercising a pleasing talent for the benefit of his numerous friends among the notabilities (especi- ally the minor notabilities) of the Papal Court from about 1475 to 1490. To assign to him the large portrait of Giovanni Candida or the medal of Diomede Caraffa is, it seems to me, to regard him too seriously, to credit him with a strength of artistic individuality which he does not possess.

56 Priangular stops on obv. There is a break in the edge of the medal which has mutilated some kind of ornament at the end of the legend.

57 Mr. F. G. Kenyon suggests TA EAAHNOQN. This, though it makes a bad verse, is at least intelligible, if we suppose that the Cardinal only began to learn Greek in his old age.

58 Armand III, 178 C, II, 93.19.

SOME CONSTABLE PUZZLES eA BY C. J. HOLMES ck

HE 'future historian of the British School will find him- self faced by a singular diffi- culty. Before the foundation of the Royal Academy he will have to make his way through a chaos-illumined here and there perhaps by a

faint glimmer of light, but still a chaos in which no labour or learning can ever hope to find a firm and open road. After that eventful date, thanks to the labours of Mr. Algernon Graves, he will suffer from excess of solid material rather than from the want of it. In the earlier period even the great

figures will still be enveloped in a mist of uncertainty, while of the less there will be no memorial at all: in the later there will be memorials of thousands upon thousands of paintings good and bad, of which hardly one in a hundred can now be identified.

For this all-important business of identification Mr. Graves's latest volume 1 is perhaps more valu- able than all its predecessors put together, for the simple reason that up to the year 1852 the British Institution printed in its catalogues the outside,

1 The British Institution, 80o6--867. By Algernon Graves F.S.A. London: G, Bell, and Algernon Graves, 42 Old Bond Street, ?3 3s. net,

286