Head with Three Infantile Faces [reverse]

c. 1440/1444

Pisanello

Associated Names
Pisanello

Artist, Veronese, c. 1395 - 1455

The sculpture is a round medallion featuring three human faces with curly hair arranged in a row facing forward. The central face is the most prominent. The medallion is dark brown, likely made of bronze or a similar metal. Intricate carvings surround the faces, including two cornucopias filled with wheat and fruit. The top inscription reads “OPVS” and the bottom reads “PISANI.PICTORIS.” There is a small hole at the top for suspension. The design suggests a functional and artistic object from the past, intended for close viewing due to its size as a medallion.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (diameter): 6.74 cm (2 5/8 in.)
    gross weight: 100.32 gr (0.221 lb.)
    axis: 12:00

  • Accession Number

    1957.14.598.b

Associated Artworks

The sculpture is a round, bronze medallion depicting the profile of a man with short, curly hair. The portrait is in a classical style, with detailed facial features including a prominent nose and lips. Around the edge of the medallion, there is embossed text: "MARCHIO ESTENESIS LEONELLVS," along with decorative elements resembling foliage. The bronze material gives the medallion a dark, metallic appearance, with a patina that highlights the detailed engravings and contours. The medallion also has a small hole at the top.

Leonello d'Este, 1407-1450, Marquess of Ferrara 1441 [obverse]

Pisanello

1435

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Princess Belgioioso, Milan; (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19-20 May 1879, no. 7); 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

Bibliography

1990

  • Lippincott, Kristen. "The Genesis and Significance of the Fifteenth-century Italian Impresa." In Chivalry in the Renaissance. Edited by Sydney Anglo. Woodbridge, UK and Rochester, NY, 1990: 67-68, fig. 8.

2007

  • Pollard, John Graham. Renaissance Medals The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007: 1:no. 6, repro.

2011

  • Campbell, Steven J. "Review of Renaissance Medals, Vol. 1 Italy (Washington, 2007)." The Art Bulletin 93, no. 1 (March 2011): 107, nt. 3.

Inscriptions

around circumference: OPVS PISANI PICTORIS

Wikidata ID

Q63815140

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