Bartolommeo Melioli (1448-1514), Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519), later fourth Marquess of Mantua (1484), bronze medal, D FRANCISCVS GON D FRED III M MANTVAE F SPES PVB SALVSQ P REDIVI, armoured bust right of Francesco as a boy wearing a cap, rev., ADOLESCENTIA AVGVSTAE, Prudence standing right, holding staff and muzzle inscribed CAVTIVS and flanked by the sea and fire; signed on the ground-line MELIOLVS DICAVIT, 72mm (Hill 196 (71.5-72.5mm); Armand I, 80, 4; Bargello 92; Scher 27; cf. Pollard 107 = Kress 69), pierced, an extremely fine contemporary cast, glossy brown patina Provenance: John R. Gaines collection.Utterly overshadowed by his remarkable wife, the exceptionally cultured and discriminating Isabella d’Este, Francesco II Gonzaga, the fourth Marquis of Mantua, was a military captain of uneven success. His strenuous life kept him away from Mantua for long periods during which Isabella was the effective ruler of the state. Weakened by syphilis, at the end of his life he acknowledged the debt he owed to his wife and advised his sons to trust her wisdom and justice. Melioli was trained as a goldsmith which his elaborate detailing reveals; influenced by Cristoforo di Geremia, this is one of only six signed medals and it exquisitely illustrates the tangled thicket academics encounter when attempting to unravel Renaissance symbolism. Both the date this medal was made as well as the subject and meaning of its reverse design have been, and remain, a topic of debate. But one thing is agreed in general: the key is properly interpreting the legends of the former whilst linking them to, and deciphering, the iconography of the latter. Francesco was born in 1466 which provides the starting point, and a few of the interpretations are as follows: Hill (1930) dated the medal to “before 14 July 1481, identified the reverse figure as Pandora (holding her box), and read the obverse legend as implying that Francesco was still crown prince. Panofsky (Pandora’s Box, 1936), alluding to Francesco’s recovery from grave illness in 1484, read the reverse type as Health (holding a basket for medicines); but Martineau (Splendours of the Gonzaga, 1981) noted that Francesco had also been ill in mid-1481 and saw the figure is a personification of good government and that the ‘box’ or ‘basket’ was in fact a muzzle, a Gonzaga device. Pollard (2007) saw the figure as Prudence, noted that Francesco’s portrait compares favourably to a painting of the prince at a young age by Baldassare d’Este, c. 1474/1480 (NGA 1943.4.41) and concluded, “the date of the medal is uncertain”.

Estimate: GBP 8000 - 12000