Menu
Menu
Medallist: Niccolò Fiorentino, 1430-1510
commemorating Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, philosopher
Cast bronze medal undated (around 1484-1485). (Ø 85,6 mm; 334,71 gr). IOANNES PICVS MIRANDVLENSIS. Bust right, with long hair, wearing cuirass with winged mask on breast // PVLCHRITVDO AMOR VOLVPTAS. Three Graces, nude; in the middle one, seen from behind, head in profile right ; she embraces the others, who hold ears of corn (on left) and a branch (on right).
Of the highest rarity. Museum piece.
Suspension hole. Impressive and extremely fine contemporary cast
Lot 17 / estimation CHF 100’000/ hammer price CHF 80’000
Reference: Armand I, p. 86, n°9 (Ø 85 mm); Hill, Corpus I, p. 262, n°998B (Ø 84-87 mm); Hill & Pollard (Kress Coll.) n°277 (Ø 81 mm, “late cast”).
Provenance: The Stack Collection, auction Morton & Eden 41, London (UK), 9 December 2009, lot n°110.
Auction Sotheby’s, Zurich (Switzerland), 27 May 1974, lot n°48.
This exceptional medal can be seen as an intemporal echo from the Renaissance,
bringing to our modern eyes, cast in bronze, the main values humanism stands for: beauty and wisdom.
Our video presents the characteristics of this medal, like its iconography, its rarity,
its historical and numismatic importance as well as its artistic merit.
Crafted in Florence around 1485, this medal commemorates one of the most important humanists of the Renaissance: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. It is of the greatest rarity, as it is the only original contemporary specimen known to have survived the passing of time.
Born in 1463 in Mirandola, north of Florence, Pico was regarded as the most knowledgeable man on earth by its contemporaries. At the time of the production of this medal, he had started the redaction of his 900 theses, compiling his views on all known doctrines and philosophical knowledge from both Western and Eastern cultures. Its aim was to form the basis for a large congress of scholars against which Pico would defend each of his 900 theses. Sadly, this congress was halted by Pope Innocent VIII who eventually condemned all Pico’s theses, leading to his excommunication, the destruction of all copies of his book and the settling of Pico della Mirandola in Florence under the protection of the Medici family. His premature death at the young age of 31, on the 17th of November 1494, contributed to make Pico della Mirandola an even more fascinating figure, as have also recent forensic analysis, made on his exhumed body, by revealing that Pico had been assassinated by arsenic poisoning.
On the obverse, you can see the bust of Pico della Mirandola, beautifully represented in high relief, looking to the right with long hair and decorated armor.
On the reverse, three standing naked women, also known as thet Three Graces, two facing on the sides and one, in the middle, turning her back.
This medal is unique, as it is, to the best of our knowledge, the only original contemporary specimen known to have survived the passing of time. As such, it is missing in all important coin cabinets and collections worldwide, both public and private, and only a few persons have ever had the honor to encounter this exceptional medal.
The most important catalogues raisonnés about Renaissance medals even mention that no original contemporary specimens of this medal are known, but this medal just proves the contrary.
Looking at this medal, three important historical figures come to mind:
The first is of course, Giavanni Pico della Mirandola himself beautifully portrayed as a young man in his twenties, on the obverse of this medal.
Born on the 24th of February 1463 in Mirandola (Italy), Pico was regarded as the most knowledgeable man on earth by its contemporaries and is now even considered by numerous scholars as the founder of humanism. Already an exceptional speaker and poet at the age of 10, he started to study Law at 14 and was able to speak and read not less than 22 languages at the age of 18.
At the time of the production of this medal, Pico had started the most important project of his life: the redaction of his 900 Theses. This work compiled his views on all known doctrines and philosophical knowledge from both Wester and Easter cultures, with the aim to form the basis for a large congress of Scholars, coming from all parts of the world, and against which Pico would defend each of his 900 theses.
Sadly, this congress never took place, as Pope Innocent VIII halted its holding and eventually condemned all Pico’s theses, leading to his excommunication, the confiscation and destruction of all copies of his book and the settling of Pico della Mirandola in Florence where he received the protection of the Medici family.
His premature and mysterious death, at the young age of 31, on the 17th of November 1494, contributed to make Pico della Mirandola an even more fascinating figure, as have also recent forensic analysis, made on his exhumed body, by revealing that Pico had been assassinated by arsenic poisoning.
The second historical figure is Lorenzo di Piero de’Medici, also known as Lorenzo ‘the Magnificent’, a friend and protector of Pico della Mirandola.
On a political aspect, he was, since 1469, the ruler of the Republic of Florence as well as the head of the Medici bank. In permanent conflicts with rival Florentine families, he survived the famous Pazzi conspiracy, an assassination attempt that took place on the 26th of April 1478, during High Mass at the Duomo of Florence, where Lorenzo and his younger brother Giuliano were attacked by members of the rival Pazzi family. This brutal event left Lorenzo severely wounded but led also to the tragical death of Giuliano.
If the political life of Lorenzo de’ Medici was quite rich, the cultural aspect of his life was even more fascinating, as Lorenzo was considered the most powerful and important patron of Renaissance culture. Among the numerous artists that excelled under his patronage, he is well known for his sponsorship of Botticelli and Michelangelo whose masterpieces have shaped art for centuries.
And it is quite interesting to note that Botticelli’s masterpieces the Primavera and The Birth of Venus, considered as some of the most famous and most frequently reproduced works of Western art, were created around the same time as this medal.
The third historical figure is Girolamo Savonarola, the infamous Dominican friar and preacher who became the ruler of Florence after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1492.
Violently denouncing political and clerical corruption, he called for Christian renewal and founded what could be described as the first ever clerical dictature in Western history. On the 7th of February 1497, took place one of the most dramatic events of his rule, the well-known Bonfire of the Vanities.
There in the middle of the public square of Florence, on Shrove Tuesday, thousands of books. cosmetics and objects of art, considered as occasions of sin, where collected in the city by the supporters of Girolamo Savonarola and burned down in an immense fire. Botticelli himself, according to contemporary testimonies, threw some of its master paintings into the fire.
And we can imagine, how the medals of Pico della Mirandola, with their suggestive reverse iconography, might have been among the numerous objects of art destroyed in this fire. A fact that could explain why this medal is so rare, being possibly the only original contemporary specimen having been able to miraculously escape Savonarola’s terrible Bonfire of the Vanities.
The reverse of this medal depicts the Three Graces, the well-known goddesses Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia, from the Greek mythology in whom beauty was deified. This iconography appears here for the first time since antiquity on a medal and will have a very large success for the following centuries.
The representation of the Three Graces on this medal was inspired by an antique statuary group which for a long time was believed to be unique. It was found in Rome toward the middle of the fifteenth century, on the site of the Palazzo Colonna and presented to Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, a great lover of art, who treasured it as one of the chief ornaments of his own palace. Later the sculpture found its way to the famous Piccolomini Library in the Duomo of Siena, where the Three Nude Graces stood on a beautiful pedestal as a symbol of the recovered beauty of antiquity placed into the heart of Christianity.
Although inspired by antiquity, the legend AMOR VOLUPTAS PULCHRITUDO, that we can translate as LOVE, PLEASURE, and BEAUTY was not a reference to the known traditional ancient goddesses of beauty, but rather to the philosophical works of another important humanist of the time: Marsilio Ficino, a priest and teacher of Pico della Mirandola, active in Florenz, where, under the protection of Lorenzo the Magnificent, he founded his Florentine Academy, as an attempt to revive Plato’s Academy.
Considered as one of the most important philosophers and humanists of the Italian Renaissance, Ficino was not only the first translator of Plato’s complete work into Latin, he also published in 1484, a book with the title “De Amore” “of Love” whom the legends of this medal make a direct reference. In his book he describes with the term PULCHRITUDO, also found in the legend, the highest existing level of beauty, the beauty that has the ability to attract the three main drivers of the human being: the soul, the mind and the senses.
Finally, VOLUPTAS, the last word of the legend, is a direct allusion to one of the early philosophical interests of Ficino, the teachings of Epicurus and Lucretius, and what he called himself the philosophy of pleasure.
This exceptional medal can therefore be seen, as an intemporal echo from the Renaissance, bringing to our modern eyes, cast in bronze, the main values humanism stands for: beauty and wisdom.
LUGDUNUM GmbH
Bielstrasse 3 – CH-4500 Solothurn – Switzerland / Phone: +41 (0)32 554 03 30
eMail: info@lugdunum-numismatik.com
With our Newsletter we will inform you personally about
our auctions and upcoming events