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Lot 150: [ ITALIAN MEDALS ]

Est: £10,000 GBP - £15,000 GBPSold:
Morton & EdenLondon, United KingdomDecember 09, 2009

Item Overview

Description

DANESE CATTANEO (c. 1512-1572) Elisabetta Quirini (died 1559), bronze medal, ELISABETTAE QVIRINAE, draped bust left with elaborately braided hair, rev., the Three Graces, 43mm (Attwood 227; Armand I, 121, 4 and III, 49, a; Toderi/Vannel 651; Pollard 482 = Kress 419), an extremely fine contemporary cast with superb brown patina

Artist or Maker

Provenance

Provenance: 'Property of a late Collector', Sotheby's, 12 June 1974, lot 133; Morton & Eden, 27 June 2006, lot 393. As Pollard noted, Elisabetta was the learned daughter of the Venetian Francesco Quirini, celebrated for her beauty, spirit and cultivation. She married Lorenzo Massolo in 1512 and was widowed in 1556. They were patrons of Titian who painted her portrait in about 1543 (the painting, now lost, is known through an 18th century print by Giuseppe Canale). The portrait was praised by Aretino in a poem and in a letter to Titian as well as in another letter to Pietro Bembo in October 1543; it was also the subject of a sonnet by Giovanni della Casa. Lorenzo Massolo commissioned The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence by Titian, now in the Gesuiti, Venice.

Auction Details

The Stack Collection Important Renaissance Medals & Plaquett

by
Morton & Eden
December 09, 2009, 10:30 AM GMT

Sotheby's 34-35 New Bond Street, London, LDN, W1S 2RT, UK