Gioacchino Francesco Travani (d. 1675), Alexander VII Chigi (Pope, 1655-67), bronze medal, 1659, commissioned by Domenico Jacobacci, ALEXANDER VII P M PIVS IVST OPT SENEN PATR GENTE CHISIVS MDCLIX, bust left wearing cap, mozzetta and stole (after Bernini), rev., MVNIFICO PRINCIPI DOMINICVS IACOBATIVS, Androcles and the lion in the arena; below, on scroll, ET FERA MEMOR BENEFICII, 97.6mm (Molinari 96; Bargello 504-5; Whitman & Variano 79; Lincoln 1192), three small edge notches at top edge, an extremely fine contemporary cast Provenance: John R. Gaines collection.A much celebrated medal which has been described as “among the finest examples of medallic art of the seventeenth century (Whitman & Varriano, 1981). Commissioned by Domenico Jacobacci, a Roman nobleman, it was cast in 1659 to celebrate what was thought to be Pope Alexander VII’s role in bringing an early end to the plague that decimated Rome between 1656 and 1657 (one-eighth of the city’s population succumbed). It is thought that Bernini (whose authorship has been confirmed by a number of archival sources) designed the medal which was then cast by G.F. Travani. Alexander himself was enamoured with the art of medal-making, and must have been pleased with “the first papal medal to aspire to the grander status of the plaquette or the small relief sculpture” (Varriano, 1987).

Estimate: GBP 1500 - 2000