- Museum number
- M.2149
- Description
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Cast brass medal with an incuse reverse, pierced. (whole)
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Bust of Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, right, wearing elaborately decorated armour, a golilla (spanish collar), a ruff and the collar and badge of the Order of the Precious Blood of our Saviour. (obverse)
- Production date
- 1612
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 164.000 millimetres
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Weight: 284.50 grammes
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Thickness: 1.80 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Jones 2
Composition of medal:
91.4% Cu, 6.6% Zn, 0.7% Sn, 1.2% Pb.
This example, unlike those hitherto published, has been modified at a late stage by the artist, presumably in deference to the young duke's manly sensibilities, to show more luxuriant side whiskers, a fuller moustache and the beginnings of a beard. These details are all engraved directly in the metal, whereas in the earlier version they had been engraved in the mould and so appear in relief.
Traces of the concentric circles which served as a guide to Dupré when laying out the inscription are also visible on this example.
The Order of the Precious Blood of our Saviour had been founded by Vincenzo IV Gonzaga in 1608 in honour of Francesco's marriage to Princess Margharita of Savoy. The badge shows two angels either side of a phial containing the blood of Christ. The order lapsed in 1708 (see 5).
It seems likely that Dupré was invited to Mantua to make Francesco's medal after his accession in February 1612. The Mantuan Court had strong links with those of France and Savoy. Vincenzo IV's second wife (Francesco's mother) Eleonora de Medici, who died in September 1611, was Marie de Medici's sister. She was Louis XIII's godmother and had visited France for his christening in 1606 while Vincenzo himself had visited France in October 1608. Francesco died of smallpox in December 1612.
That there should be copies of this medal by the Kellers (see 3 and 6) is not surprising since it was they who took over Dupré's foundry at the Arsenal in the late seventeenth century (see 1).
Other examples:
(a) Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque Nationale, 58 rue de Richelieu, 75084 Paris, France, cast bronze, 162 mm. According to Mazerolle it bears the mark of Queen Christina's Collection (a crowned C).
(b) Musée des Beaux-Arts, Palais Saint-Pierre, Lyon, France, bronze, pierced, 161 mm.
(c) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA, bronze, 165 mm.
(d) National Gallery of Art, 6th Street and Constitution Avenue, Washington DC, 20565, USA, Kress no 561, 163 mm. Copy by J.B. Keller, signed and dated 1654.
(e) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Boston), 1971. 643, bronze, 163 mm. Copy by J.B. Keller.
(f) Boston, 1971. 642, bronze, 163 mm.
(g) National Museum of Wales, bronze.
Bibliography:
1. Lemaire Paris ancien et nouveau II, p.204.
2. T.N Méd. Fr. II pl. IX, no. 2.
3. R. Serrure 23 Nov. 1896, no. 164. An example from the collection of Lefèvre van den Berghe bearing the signature of the founder J. B. Keller and the date 1654 on the reverse.
4. Mazerolle II no. 668.
5. H.E. Gillingham Italian Orders of Chivalry and Medals of Honour, New York, 1923, p.36.
6. Pollard Kress no. 561.
7. Leonardo Mazzoldi, Renato Guisti and Rinaldo Salvadori Mantova la Storia vol III.
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- Coins and Medals
- Registration number
- M.2149
- C&M catalogue number
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MF2 (Jones 2) (76) (36)
