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Pisanello

Niccolò Piccinino, 1386-1444, Condottiere [obverse], c. 1441

Not on View

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 8.85 cm (3 1/2 in.)
gross weight: 252.28 gr (0.556 lb.)
axis: 12:00

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1957.14.596.a

Artists / Makers

Pisanello (artist) Veronese, c. 1395 - 1455

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

around circumference: NICOLAVS PICININVS VICECOMES MARCHIO CAPITANEVS MAX[imus] AC MARS ALTER

Provenance

Charles Armand Signol [d. 1875], Paris; (his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 1-3 April 1878, 3rd day, no. 155); Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his heirs; purchased with the entire Dreyfus collection 9 July 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 31 January 1944 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1957 to NGA.

[1] The Duveen Brothers Records document the firm’s sixteen year pursuit and eventual acquisition of the Dreyfus collection, which included paintings, sculptures, small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. Bequeathed as part of his estate to Dreyfus’ widow and five children (a son and four daughters), who had differing opinions about its disposition, the collection was not sold until after his widow’s death in April 1929. Duveen did not wish to separate Dreyfus’ collection of small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes, and it was sold intact to the Kress Foundation for a price that was met by installment payments every three months. (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 301, box 446, folders 3 and 4; reel 302, box 447, folders 1-6; reel 303, box 448, folders 1 and 2; reel 330, box 475, folder 4.) See also George Francis Hill’s discussion "A Note on Pedigrees" in his catalogue, The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals, Oxford, 1931: xii, which was commissioned by Duveen Brothers.

Associated Names

Dreyfus, Gustave
Drouot, Hôtel
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Signol, Charles Armand

Exhibition History

1980: Beyond Nobility: Art for the Private Citizen in the Early Renaissance, Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania, 1980-1981, no. 50, repro.

2001: Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration - Reinstallation of Kress Collection, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 2001-2002, no cat.

2005: Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscript Illumination from the J. Paul Getty Museum, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, obverse shown in exhibition, not in brochure.

Bibliography

1883: Armand, Alfred. Les médailleurs italiens des quinzième et seizième siècles. 2nd ed. 3 vols. Paris, 1883-1887: 1:7, no. 21.

1908: Migeon, Gaston. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus, V: Les plaquettes." Les Arts 80 (August 1908): 3, no. iii.

1930: Hill, George Francis. A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini. 2 vols. London, 1930: no. 22.

1931: Hill, George Francis. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals. Oxford, 1931: no. 4.

1944: Middeldorf, Ulrich and Oswald Goetz. Medals and Plaquettes from the Sigmund Morgenroth Collection. Chicago, 1944: no. 4 (excavated from the foundations of the house in Verona).

1951: National Gallery of Art. Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. Washington, 1951: 161.

1967: Hill, George Francis, and Graham Pollard. Renaissance Medals from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art. London, 1967: no. 4.

1972: Chiarelli, R. L'Opera completa di Pisanello. Milan, 1972: no. 85.

1983: De Lorenzi, Giovanna. Medaglie di Pisanello e della sua cerchia. Museo del Bargello, Florence, 1983: no. 6.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 18, no. 4.

1984: Pollard, John Graham. Italian Renaissance Medals in the Museo Nazionale of Bargello. 3 vols. Florence, 1984: no. 5.

1996: Cordellier, Dominique, et. al. Pisanello. Exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, 1996: 212-213, no. 123 [entry by Sylvie de Turckheim-Pey].

1996: Rugolo, Ruggero. "Medaglie." In Puppi, Leonelli. Pisanello. Una poetica dell'inatteso. Milan, 1996: 160-162, no. 10.

2007: Pollard, John Graham. Renaissance Medals. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007: 1:no. 4, repro.