Figure of Inspiration at an Easel [reverse]

1611

Felice Antonio Casone

Medalist, Bolognese, 1559 - 1634

Cast in low relief, a woman with hair streaming wildly up and away from her face and wearing a gag covering her mouth sits and paints at an easel on this round bronze medallion. The woman faces our left in profile on a chair with a scrolling back and arms. She wears a long gown with loose, elbow-length sleeves. One foot is braced against the foot of the easel, and the other rests on the floor near a rectangular paint palette and paint brushes. The woman rests a maulstick down in front of her legs and holds a paintbrush up to the surface on the easel. Text in a border around the edge of the medal reads, “PERTE STATO GIOIOSO MIMANTENE.” Spiraling scrolls, a compass, and a square are at the bottom center of the border.

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): 6.55 cm (2 9/16 in.)
    gross weight: 75.12 gr (0.166 lb.)
    axis: 12:00

  • Accession

    1957.14.1071.b

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

1998

  • Lavinia Fontana of Bologna 1552-1614, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 33, repro.

2000

  • The Power of Appearances: Renaissance and Reformation Portrait Prints, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, 2000, no cat.

2019

  • A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2019 - 2020, unnumbered catalogue.

2021

  • By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500–1800, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford; The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 2021 - 2022, unnumbered catalogue.

Bibliography

2007

  • Pollard, John Graham. Renaissance Medals. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007: 1:no. 548, repro.

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. "Reviewed Work(s): Reading Vasari by Anne B. Barriault, Andrew Ladis, Norman E. Land and Jeryldene M. Wood." The Sixteenth Century Journal 38, 4 (Winter 2007): 1142.

2023

  • Lugli, Emanuele. "Lavinia Fontana's Freedom." Art History 46 (2023): 10, fig. 5.

Inscriptions

around circumference: PER TE STATO GIOIOSO MI MANTENE

Wikidata ID

Q63851501

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