Lorenzo Fragni was born in Parma and was called to Rome in 1568 by his uncle and master, Giovan Federico Bonzagni, with whom he worked in the papal mint between 1572 and 1586, producing medals of Popes Gregory XIII and Sixtus V. A summary of the inventory of Fragni’s possessions at his death in January 1619 is given in the DBI (1997) and includes medals of Pope Gregory XIII, Cardinal Madruzzo, Ippolito d’Este, pseudo-Roman coins, and other ancient subjects.
[Published in: John Graham Pollard. Renaissance Medals. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007]