Not on display

Alphonso V, King of Aragon and Naples

Medal
ca. 1450 (made)
Place of origin

This is an elliptic bronze medal made in Italy, about 1450, after Antonio Pisano, Pisanello (b. ca. 1395 - d. 1455). This medal has only the obverse which shows Alfonso, the King of Naples, in civic costume.

Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (b.ca. 1395; d. 1455) who was born in Pisa or Verona, by 1395 was an Italian painter, draughtsman and medallist. His richly decorative frescoes, courtly and elegantly painted portraits and highly original portrait medals made him one of the most popular artists of the day. He travelled extensively and worked for several Italian courts, at Mantua, Ferrara, Pavia, Milan and Naples. Many of his paintings have been lost or damaged, making a reconstruction of his career difficult. He is now better known as a medallist.

Two-sided Renaissance portrait medals were a form developed by Pisanello, and commemorated individuals or events and functioned as gifts and mementoes. They were inspired by the Roman coins, with their portraits of rulers and allegorical representations on the reverse, excavated all over Italy and eagerly collected by humanist scholars.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleAlphonso V, King of Aragon and Naples (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Medal, bronze, Alfonso, King of Naples, after Pisanello, Italian, ca. 1450
Physical description
Bronze medal plaquette depicting Alfonso V, King of Aragon and Naples.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 6.85cm
  • Diameter: 5.15cm
Object history
Bought from the Soulages Collection in 1865 for £2.
Production
After Antonio Pisano, Pisanello. (b. ca. 1395 - d. 1455)
Summary
This is an elliptic bronze medal made in Italy, about 1450, after Antonio Pisano, Pisanello (b. ca. 1395 - d. 1455). This medal has only the obverse which shows Alfonso, the King of Naples, in civic costume.

Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (b.ca. 1395; d. 1455) who was born in Pisa or Verona, by 1395 was an Italian painter, draughtsman and medallist. His richly decorative frescoes, courtly and elegantly painted portraits and highly original portrait medals made him one of the most popular artists of the day. He travelled extensively and worked for several Italian courts, at Mantua, Ferrara, Pavia, Milan and Naples. Many of his paintings have been lost or damaged, making a reconstruction of his career difficult. He is now better known as a medallist.

Two-sided Renaissance portrait medals were a form developed by Pisanello, and commemorated individuals or events and functioned as gifts and mementoes. They were inspired by the Roman coins, with their portraits of rulers and allegorical representations on the reverse, excavated all over Italy and eagerly collected by humanist scholars.
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. 37
  • Robinson, John Charles. Catalogue of the Soulages Collection. London: Chapman & Hall, 1856, p. 142
  • Hill, G. F. A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini. London: British Museum, 1920, no. 42
  • Pisanello : Le Peintre aux Sept Vertus, Paris : Réunion des musées nationaux, 1996 307
Collection
Accession number
676-1865

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Record createdJanuary 10, 2003
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