This is a bronze medal made by Domenico Poggini (1520-1590) in Florence, Italy, about 1586, commemorating the erection of the Obelisk on the St. Peter's Square in Rome. The obverse of this medal represents bust of Domenico Fontana (1543-1607) and the reverse shows the obelisk.
Fontana was a Swiss engineer of the late Renaissance, working primarily in Italy. He built the 'Cappella del Presepio' in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, and nearby the Palazzo Montalto. He made the alterations in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (c. 1586) and designed fountains with his brother Giovanni, e.g. the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola, or the Fontana di Termini. In 1586 he erected the 327 ton obelisk in the Square of St. Peter's, which was an enormous constructional and labour intense undertaking. He gives an account of it in Della transportatione dell'obelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V (Rome, 1590). He also erected three other ancient obelisks on the Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di S. Maria Maggiore, and Piazza di S. Giovanni in Laterano.
Poggini (1520-1590) was a sculptor, medallist, die-engraver, goldsmith, bronze-caster and poet. His earliest training probably came from his father Michele.
Domenico worked mostly with his brother Giampaolo until the latter’s departure between 1553 and 1555 to work for Philip II, King of Spain, in the Netherlands and Spain.
He also practised as a marble sculptor, executing a figure of Apollo in the Boboli Gardens (1559) and a bust of Francesco I de'Medici (1564), by whom he was employed on a bronze figure for the Studiolo of the Palazzo Vecchio.