This medal shows the bust of the poet and professor of poetry at the University of Ferrara, Lodovico Carbone (b. ca. 1436; d. 1482) and is made by Sperandio.
Sperandio (ca. 1425 - 1504), a prolific medallist if inferior imitator of Pisanello, was born in Mantua and grew up and worked mainly in Ferrara. From 1478 to ca. 1490, however, he worked at Bologna. He got his training from his father. It is not clear when he started his medallic work, but no work could be attributed to him before 1460. It seems that Sperandio was working for Borso d'Este from the early 1460s on a continuous basis.
His activities were quite varied and there is evidence that he was also working as a goldsmith and painter. During a short stay in Faenza he was appointed by the Manfredi family to work in bronze, marble, terracotta and lead, as well as for works in gold, drawings and paintings. Lodovico Gonzaga, bishop of Mantua, recommended him to his brother Gianfrancesco as a cannon founder and architect and that is how Sperandio spent his last years of working in Venice.