Two Italian Medals - Girolamo Cardano and Giovanni Morone
Iosephus
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Girolamo Cardano / Figures Within a Landscape
Unknown Milanese medallist, c. 1550.
Bronze, 50.5 mm Ø, 59.3 g
Obverse: Bust of Girolamo Cardano facing right, wearing doublet and coat. Around, HIER · CARDANVS · AETATIS · AN · XLVIIII (Girolamo Cardano, Aged 49 Years).
Reverse: A group of figures walking to the left, approaching a vine growing on a tree. In the background, two figures approach a cottage within a mountainous landscape. Below, ONEIPON (Dream).
Girolamo Cardano, born in Pavia on September 24, 1501, was an Italian polymath known for his work as a physician, mathematician, and philosopher, among other interests. He had a varied career, publishing a number of books, was a lecturer in mathematics in Milan, then professor of medicine in Pavia from 1543 to 1552 and in Bologna from 1560 to 1570. In 1552 he was court physician to King Edward VI of England and to the archbishop of Scotland. Cardano was arrested by the Inquisition in 1570 and held for several months. He was no longer permitted to publish after his release, but he travelled to Rome where he was granted membership by the College of Physicians and given a pension by Pope Gregory XIII. Cardano then wrote his autobiography, De Propria Vita, which was published posthumously in 1643, and would die in Rome on September 21, 1576.
The medal's reverse refers to a dream recounted in Cardano's autobiography which he had in 1534 while in Milan. In the dream, Cardano asked a crowd surrounding him where they were heading. Their reply of "To Death" spurred him to grasp a withered vine and climb up a nearby mountain, upon which he then found himself with a twelve year old boy heading for the safety of a cottage. Cardano interpreted the dream as reflecting the harshness and sadness of his life, while the harvested vine showed his glory and his grandson gave him solace. The medal has sometimes been attributed to Leone Leoni. However, Attwood notes that the style argues against this attribution.
Published: This piece illustrated in Toderi and Vannel 2000, pl. 15 no. 67.
References: Attwood 2003, no. 97; Pollard 2007, no. 497; Toderi and Vannel 2000, no. 67
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Giovanni Morone / Radiant Clouds Above Landscape
Unknown medallist of Lombardy, c. 1560s.
Gilt Bronze, 47.9 mm Ø, 33.3 g
Obverse: Bust of Giovanni Morone facing left, wearing biretta and hooded cassock. Around, IOANNES · CARDINALIS / MORONVS (Cardinal Giovanni Morone).
Reverse: Clouds radiating downward with a landscape below. Within the clouds, VOX DE COELO (Voice from Heaven). Around the lower portion, ET TENEBRE EVM NON COMPREHENDERVNT (And the Darkness Did Not Comprehend It).
Giovanni Morone was born in Milan on January 25, 1509, was made Bishop of Modena in 1529, and was created cardinal by Pope Paul III in 1542. He was arrested in 1557 by order of Pope Paul IV on suspicion of heresy. Morone was freed by Paul's successor, Pope Pius IV, and would go on to preside over the final portion of the Council of Trent in 1563. He died on December 1, 1580.
The reverse inscription is taken from John 1:5, "et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt" (And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it). This refers to his imprisonment in Castel Sant'Angelo, and suggests that the medal dates to 1559 or the early 1560s.
References: Attwood 2003, no. 179; Toderi and Vannel 2000, no. 308
Comments
These medals are very nice, of course, but I really enjoy the biographical sketches.