Plaster cast, medallion of Giovanni Pietro Di Avenza, after marble original in Lucca, Italy, cast by Ornzio lelli, ca. 1890

Plaster cast of a marble portrait bust of Giovanni Pietro di Avenza. The sitter is shown in profile, looking to the right. An inscription runs around the edges and to the center of the medallion, either part of the profile.

Purchased from Oronzio Lelli in 1890 for 6s 6d (8 lire)

This cast of the medallion of Giovanni Pietro di Avenza was taken from a marble original situated in the cathedral of Lucca, Italy.
Portrait of Giovanni Pietro Vitelli, a humanist born in Avenza, who taught at the universities of Brescia, in Venice and in Lucca, where he died in 1457. Inscribed: IOANNES PETRUS·LVCEN·DOCTVS GRAECE ET·LATINE·INGENIO MITI+PROBO·Q. (Giovanni Pietro of Lucca learned in Greek and Latin, with a gentle and virtuous nature). The medallion was attributed to Matteo Civitali (1436-1501) by Ridolfi (1882). This attribution was refuted in 1977 by Ulrich Middeldorf, who showed that the medallion derived from a bronze medal by Pisanello in a private collection. when Lelli made his copy, this medallion was unknown. The roundel conforms to the medal both in the sitter's features and the text of the inscription. If the attribution of the bronze medal is correct, it can be dated to before 1450, the year of Pisanello's death. The marble roundel seems, however, to be of a later date than the medal as the costume in the former is dateable to circa 1500.

Previously attributed to Matteo Civitali by Ridolfi in 1882.

REPRO.1890-27