Featured Italian Renaissance Medal - Filippo Maria Visconti by Pisanello

Filippo Maria Visconti


Bronze, 99.3 mm Ø, 389.4 g

By Antonio di Puccio Pisano, called Pisanello, c. 1441.

Obverse: Bust of Filippo Maria Visconti facing right, wearing soft-top cap and brocaded top embroidered with flowers and a crowned wreath encircling a dove. Around, PHILIPPVS MARIA · ANGLVS · DVX · MEDIOLANI · ETCETERA · PAPIE · ANGLERIE · QVE · COMES · AC · GENVE · DOMINVS (Filippo Maria Anglus, Duke of Milan et cetera, Count of Pavia and Angera, and Lord of Genoa), with a star separating the beginning and end of the inscription.

Reverse: At the left, Visconti on horseback prancing left, wearing full armor with biscione crest on helmet and holding lance. In the middle, another horseman wearing armor and holding lance. At the right, a page on horseback seen from behind. All within a mountainous landscape, with various buildings in the background, and a colossal female statue amongst those on the right. Below, in sunken band, OPVS · PISANI · PICTORIS (The Work of Pisano the Painter).

Filippo Maria Visconti (1392-1447) succeeded his assassinated brother, Giovanni Maria Visconti, as Duke of Milan in 1412. Filippo Maria's expansionist efforts led to conflict and war with Florence and Venice. He died in 1447, with no male heir, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, the condottiere Francesco Sforza.

Notoriously shy about his corpulent appearance, the only contemporary portraits of Filippo Maria are this medal and a drawing by Pisanello. The name "Anglus" in the obverse inscription refers to a mythical ancestor of the Visconti family and grandson of Aeneas. Filippo Maria lost Genoa in 1435 but retained his title, which is also present in the obverse inscription. It has been suggested that the colossal female figure on the reverse is Fortitude, holding her column. The buildings are imagined and do not correlate to any actual structures. The dating of the medal is based on Pisanello's visit to Milan in 1440-1441.

This example is a pleasing though somewhat later cast, with blurred details and noticeable roughness on the reverse.

References: Hill 1930, no. 21; Pollard 2007, nos. 2-3; Scher 2019, no. 2

 

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Here is my ...
AV Ducato ND Milan Mint
Filippo Maria Visconti/ Duke of Milano

 

Beautiful art medals. @Iosephus ! The Virtus Collection website is amazing!

 

Just looked at it, quite spectacular

 

Gorgeous medal, it's really the best: Renaissance design.

Saw these two bronze Pisanello medals in the resplendent Museo Correr in Venice, housed in Napoleon's palace on the small side of the Piazza San Marco. Sorry, I have only one side, pictured by putting the iphone on the glass case.

The description of the upper medal just said 'Mask of a young boy with three faces'. It measures about 5 cm in diameter. The lower one shows the condottiere Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-1468).

 

Thank you!

Those are two wonderful Renaissance medals they have on display! The top one is also by Pisanello, and features a portrait of Leonello d'Este on the obverse. I have a medal similar to the lower one of Sigismondo by Matteo de' Pasti, which has a different portrait but is likely the same reverse as the one you saw: