The  Bronzes  of  Pier  Jacopo  Alari-Bonacolsi,  called  Antico

87

Armand,  I,  p.  81,2  (Ruberti);  Hermann,  p.  225,6,  fig.  1;  Habich,  pl.  LXII,  4
a)  Berlin,  Staatliche  Museen,  35.5  mm,  hole  over  head;  b)  Cleveland,  Cleveland  Museum  of  Art  (Gift  of  Cyril
Humphris,  no.  71.139),  37  mm,  good,  Wixom,  60 301 ;  c)  Edinburgh,  Royal  Museum  of  Scotland  (1923.446),  34  mm,
good;  d)  Florence,  Museo  Nazionale  (15987),  34.4  mm,  th.  3.6-5.9  mm,  gm  30,  aftercast,  Supino,  95  (as  Ruberti) 302 ;
Pollard,  56 303 ;  e)  London,  British  Museum  (George  III),  34.5  mm,  th.  5.5  mm;  f)  London,  Victoria  and  Albert
Museum  (Salting;  A210-1910),  35  mm,  good;  g)  Madrid,  Museo  Arqueolögico  Nacional,  Alvarez-Ossorio,  54  (as
Ruberti) 304 ;  h)  Madrid,  Museo  Lazaro  Galdiano,  Aznar,  p.  318,  pl.  XL,  gilded 305 ;  i)  Modena,  Museo  Estense
(n.  73,  12),  39  mm,  th.  (edge)  3-3.5  mm;  j)  Munich,  Staatliche  Münzsammlung,  34.5  mm,  gilded;  k)  Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches  Museum,  34.5-38  mm,  th.  3.7-5.4  mm
The  central  motif  of  the  reverse  is  virtually  that  of  the  amazon  sarcophagus  once  at  SS.  Cosma  e  Damiano,  Rome,
of  which  only  fragments  are  left 306 .  Amazon  sarcophagi  stand  generally  in  the  background  of  this  relief.
Stylistically  the  bust  is  much  like  that  of  Antonia  del  Balzo,  although  this  strongly  modelled  portrait  possesses
a  large  eye  and  emphasizes  a  Roman  nose.  As  Antico  died  in  1528  and  because  the  portrait  appears  to  be  of  a  mature
woman,  this  medal  has  been  consistently  denied  to  the  famed  beauty  who  was  precocious  from  childhood,  Julia
Gonzaga  Colonna,  granddaughter  of  Gianfrancesco  and  Antonia  del  Balzo 307 .  There  appears  to  be  no  alternative
possibility  within  the  Gonzaga  family,  noting  that  the  amazons  are  specifically  connected  to  the  Gonzagas  by  the
thunderbolt  upon  the  shield.  Julia’s  birthdate  is  unknown  and  she  has  been  thought  to  be  only  thirteen  when  she
married  in  1526  to  a  man  in  his  forties,  who  died  two  years  later.  Yet  in  1520  at  festivities  in  honor  of  the  accession
of  Federico  II  as  Marquess  of  Mantua,  she  reigned  as  queen  at  a  tournament,  which  suggests  that  she  was  more
than  seven  or  eight  years  old  at  that  time 308 .  Furthermore,  it  was  common  practise  in  antiquity  and  not  unknown
in  the  Renaissance  to  make  a  portrait  on  a  coin  or  medal  look  considerably  older  than  the  actual  age  of  the
individual  for  who  it  was  created 309 .  The  play  of  Fortune  is  the  subject  of  the  reverse  and  the  legend  on  the  obverse
can  be  read  the  divine  Julia  happy  for  the  first  time  or  the  luckiest  one 3W .  If  the  medal  was  created  for  Julia  Gonzaga
Colonna,  Antico  found  an  unusual  and  appropriate  motif  suggestive  not  only  of  Fortune,  but  of  Julia’s
considerable  intellectual  prowess  and  beauty.  As  she  may  have  had  a  number  of  suitors,  it  could  also  allude
flatteringly  to  the  proposals  for  her  hand,  and  to  her  ultimate  conquest.  If  so,  this,  the  finest  of  Antico’s  medals,
was  produced  for  her  wedding  in  1526.

10.  The  Gonzaga  Urn
Modena,  Galleria  Estense,  no.  2259  (Figs.  26-29)
The  “Gonzaga  Urn”  appears  to  be  now  composed  of  six  separately  cast  parts.  In  the  late  nineteenth  Century  the
vase  was  surmounted  by  a  Cupid  with  a  Bow 311 .  As  the  spreading  acanthus-decorated  section  lowest  on  the  base
is  not  only  by  another  hand  but  has  a  patina  differing  from  the  main  body  of  the  urn,  the  urn  was  once  connected
just  above  this  piece  to  some  other  object.  Above  the  shoulder  is  a  frieze  of  trophies.  Below  this  four  beribboned
masks,  two  bearded  and  with  horns  and  two  of  youths,  and  four  female  “grotteschi”  carry  swags  composed  of
clusters  of  oak  or,  apparently,  palm  leaves  and,  in  all  but  one  case,  of  poppy  pods  or  pomegranates.  The  exception

301 )  Wixom,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  286).
302 )  Supino,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  270).
303 )  Pollard,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  244).
304 )  Alvarez-Ossorio,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  289).
305 )  Aznar,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  263).
306 )  Portrayed  in  the  Codex  Escurialensis  (Egger,  cf.  n.  87),  f.  55;  C.  Robert,  Die  antiken  Sarkophag-Reliefs,  II,  Berlin,  1890,  n.  79).
307 )  Cf.  L.  Dussler,  Sebastiano  del  Piombo,  Basil,  1942,  p.  72,  figs.  62-68,  85.  None  of  these  portraits  of  Julia  are  in  profile  and,  although
generally  similar,  do  not  possess  a  pronounced  Roman  nose.
308 )  Racheli,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  7),  pp.  392  f.
309 )  Renaissance  humanists  would  have  known  that  on  Roman  coins  junior  members  of  the  imperial  family  were  frequently  made  to  look  much
older  thatn  they  actually  were.  A  Renaissance  example  is  the  portrait  medal  of  Ippolita  Gonzaga  (Hill/Pollard,  op.  cit.  (cf.  n.  274  ,  n.  432)
in  which,  as  Martineau  observed  (VAM/Splendours  (cf.  n.  9l),  no.  110),  she  looks  considerably  older  than  her  sixteen  years.
31 °)  P.  F.,  meaning  Pius  Felix,  was  common  upon  coins  of  Roman  emperors  from  the  third  Century  A.  D.  to  the  sixth  Century  A.  D.,  and  was
sometimes  used  on  those  of  empresses.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  there  is  a  contradiction  between  the  endings  of  DIVAI  and  IULIA.
311 )  A.  Venturi  (La  Galleria  Estense  in  Modena,  Modena,  1882,  pp.  100  f.)  did  not  include  the  putto  in  his  illustration  because  he  considered
it  of  a  different  facture  and  period  than  the  vase.  The  putto  was  included  in  the  photograph  published  by  L.  Planiscig  (Piccoli  Bronzi  dei
Rinascimento,  Milan,  1930,  pl.  CI,  fig.  172).