Mehmed II, 1430-1481, Sultan of the Turks 1451 [obverse]
c. 1477/1480
Medalist, Neapolitan, c. 1450 - died after 1524
West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16
Artwork overview
-
Medium
bronze
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall (diameter): 12.34 cm (4 7/8 in.)
gross weight: 445.3 gr (0.982 lb.)
axis: 12:00 -
Accession
1957.14.695.a
Associated Artworks
Mehmed II Riding [reverse]
Costanzo da Ferrara
1477
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
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
Exhibition History
1953
Renaissance Portraits, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1953, no cat.
1991
Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992, no. 107, repro.
1994
The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Frick Collection, New York; National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1994-1995, no. 21, repro.
2004
Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, no. 322A, repro.
2005
Gentile Bellini and the East, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; The National Gallery, London, 2005 - 2006, no. 16, repro.
Bibliography
1883
Armand, Alfred. Les médailleurs italiens des quinzième et seizième siècles. 2nd ed. 3 vols. Paris, 1883-1887: 1:79, no. 2.
1885
Heiss, Niccolò Spinelli 1885: 81-82, pl. 10, i.
1908
Migeon, Gaston. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus, V: Les plaquettes." Les Arts 80 (August 1908): 8, no. viii.
1930
Hill, George Francis. A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini. 2 vols. London, 1930: no. 321a.
1931
Hill, George Francis. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals. Oxford, 1931: no. 102.
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: 167.
1967
Hill, George Francis, and Graham Pollard. Renaissance Medals from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art. London, 1967: no. 102.
1982
Raby, Julian. "A Sultan of Paradox: Mehmed the Conqueror as a patron of the arts." Oxford Art Journal 5, no. 1 (1982): 3-8, fig. 1.
1983
Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 42, no. 2.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 629, no. 975, repro.
1987
Raby, Julian. "Pride and Prejudice: Mehmed the Conqueror and the Italian portrait medal," Studies in the History of Art 21 (1987): 176, 177 fig. 5, 178.
Vermeule, Cornelius C. III. "Graeco-Roman Asia Minor to Renaissance Italy: Medallic and Related Arts." Studies in the History of Art 21 (1987): 267, repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 181, color repro.
1997
Brotton, Jerry. Trading Territories, Mapping the Early Modern World, 1997: no. 29, repro.
2002
D'Urso, Teresa. "Un manifesto del 'classicismo' aragonese: il frontespizio della Naturalis historia di Plinio il Vecchio della Biblioteca di Valenza." Prospettiva 105 (January 2002): 47 n. 20.
2003
Spinale, Susan Elizabeth. "The Portrait Medals of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1451-81)." Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, 2003: 123-135, fig. 2.16.
2006
Salomon, Xavier F. "Bellini and the East, Boston and London [review of the exhibition]." The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1237 (April 2006): 301-302, fig. 77.
2007
Pollard, John Graham. Renaissance Medals. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007: 1:no. 145, repro.
2008
Waddington, Raymond B. "Breaking News: Representing the Islamic Other on Renaissance Medals." The Medal 53 (Autumn 2008): 9, 10 fig. 3 (images of both obverse and reverse numbered fig. 3), 19 nn. 33-35.
2009
James, Carolyn, and F.W. Kent. "Margherita Cantelmo and Agostino Strozzi: Friendship's Gifts and a Portrait Medal by Costanzo da Ferrara." I Tatti Studes in the Italian Renaissance 12 (2009): 108-109, fig. 1.
Inscriptions
around circumference: SVITANVS MOHAMETH OTHOMANVS TVRCORVM IMPERATOR
Wikidata ID
Q63847510