Collection Online as of June 3, 2023

Portrait of Leonello D'Este, Marquess of Ferrara (obverse and reverse)

c. 1440–1444

Part of a set. See all set records

Pisanello

(Italian, Ferrara, c. 1395–1455)

Italy, 15th century

Bronze

Diameter: 7 cm (2 3/4 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1971.4

Location

118 Italian Renaissance

Description

Renaissance medals usually show a person on the front and a symbolic element on the back, creating an overall statement about the individual. Lionello d'Este was one of the most sophisticated patrons in Renaissance Italy, and he was one of the first figures to sponsor the tradition of medals in the 1400s.

Inscriptions

Inscription

obverse: LEONELLVS MARCHIO ESTENSIS, separated by olive branches.

Provenance

Private collection (Switzerland)

Paul Drey Gallery (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1971.

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 89 archive.org

Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).

Collecting Drawings in England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1987-January 17, 1988).