Relief
ca. 1450-1500 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This circular relief in marble depicts the head of Cicero; the relief is inscribed round the edge M. TVLLIVS. C. P. P. P. It is carved in the style of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. The classical portrait medallions were frequesntly used in Lombard architectural decoration. Two cognate medallions of Cicero appear on the façade of the Certosa at Pavia and a third medallion with a putative portrait of Cicero is in the Museo Civico in Milan. The inscription recurs on one of the medallions in the Certosa, on a bronze plaquette in Berlin, and on a woodcut in the Illustrium Imagines of Andrea Fulvius of 1517. The last three letters should be taken as Proconsul Pater Patride, thus referring to an office and title which are known to have been held by Cicero.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Circular marble relief with profile head of Cicero, Lombardy, in the style of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, ca. 1450-1500. |
| Physical description | Circular relief in marble with a profile facing to the right. The figure depicted is Cicero. He is shown with a loose robe draped round the neck and a laurel wreath tied at the back with ribbons. There is an inscription around the edge of the relief. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | M.TVLLIVS.C.P.P.P
Marcus Tullius C[icero] P[roconsul] P[ater] P[atriae] (The inscription runs round the edge of the relief. It has been suggested that the last three letters should be interpretated as Primus Pater Patriae but Proconsul Pater Patriae is much more convincing. Cicero held the proconsulate of Cilicia.) |
| Historical context | Portrait medallions in low relief are used in Lombard architectural decoration, for example the Certosa at Pavia. The decoration of the Certosa does include two roundels of Cicero. Profile portraits of figures from antiquity are not unusual in Italian Renaissance art. Cicero (106-43BC) was a Roman orator and statesman. His letters to Atticus (and to the art dealer Gallus) provide evidence about the concerns of a Roman patron in ordering sculpture. Petrarch discovered the Letters to Atticus in 1345 and interest in Cicero was maintained by later Italian humanists and scholars. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This circular relief in marble depicts the head of Cicero; the relief is inscribed round the edge M. TVLLIVS. C. P. P. P. It is carved in the style of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. The classical portrait medallions were frequesntly used in Lombard architectural decoration. Two cognate medallions of Cicero appear on the façade of the Certosa at Pavia and a third medallion with a putative portrait of Cicero is in the Museo Civico in Milan. The inscription recurs on one of the medallions in the Certosa, on a bronze plaquette in Berlin, and on a woodcut in the Illustrium Imagines of Andrea Fulvius of 1517. The last three letters should be taken as Proconsul Pater Patride, thus referring to an office and title which are known to have been held by Cicero. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.5-1914 |
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| Record created | August 22, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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