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Medal

ca. 1464 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a bronze gilt medal made by Sperandio of Mantua (ca. 1425- after 1504) in Italy in about 1464. The obverse of this medal represents the poet Lodovico Carbone of Ferrara (1436-1482) and the reverse shows Siren rising from the waves.

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.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Medal, gilt bronze, bust of Lodovico Carbone/Siren rising from the waves, by Sperandio of Mantua, Italian, ca. 1464
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 3.5in
Object history
Bought from the Soulages Collection in 1865, for £3.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a bronze gilt medal made by Sperandio of Mantua (ca. 1425- after 1504) in Italy in about 1464. The obverse of this medal represents the poet Lodovico Carbone of Ferrara (1436-1482) and the reverse shows Siren rising from the waves.

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.
Bibliographic references
  • Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1865. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 32
  • Robinson, John Charles. Catalogue of the Soulages Collection. London: Chapman & Hall, 1856, p. 139
  • Natale, Mauro (ed.), Cosmè Tura e Francesco del Cossa: L'arte a Ferrara nell'età di Borso d'Este, Ferrara : Ferrara arte, 2007 17
Collection
Accession number
662-1865

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Record createdApril 29, 2008
Record URL
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