André Tiraqueau Attributed to an anonymous Roman artist, 1552. Bronze, 76.3 mm Ø, 105.1 g (Uniface) Obverse: Bust of André Tiraqueau facing left, with long beard, wearing hat and cloak. Around, . A TIRAQVELLVS / SENAT . PAR . ROMÆ . 1552 (André Tiraqueau, Parlement of Paris. Rome 1552). André Tiraqueau (1488-1558) was a French jurist, humanist, and writer from Fontenay-le-Comte. He was appointed by King Francis I to the Parlement of Paris in 1541, the most important of the thirteen parlements (law courts) in France. In 1552 he made a journey to the papal court in Rome, where it is presumed this medal was created. However, the style is quite different than that of Italian (or French) medals. As Pollard notes: "The medal is extraordinary in style, being North European rather than Italian in both the effigy and the lettering. It cannot be attributed to any Roman medalist of the mid-sixteenth century." Published: This piece cited in Pollard 2007, no. 577 ("an excellent specimen of the medal is illustrated in the Loebbecke sale catalogue (1908)"). Provenance: Ex Arthur Löbbecke collection (Jacob Hirsch XXIII, 26 Nov 1908, Lot 69). References: Pollard 2007, no. 577; Toderi and Vannel 2000, no. 2534 This medal was not attributed to the Löbbecke collection when I purchased it. Luckily, Heidelberg University has high resolution scans of many old catalogs available online, including the 1908 Löbbecke sale, so I was able to find the corresponding plate and compare:
