"Roman Imperial Coins as an Inspiration for Renaissance Numismatic Imagery," in "Translatio Nummorum...
Transcript of "Roman Imperial Coins as an Inspiration for Renaissance Numismatic Imagery," in "Translatio Nummorum...
Akten des internationalen Symposiums Berlin 16.–18. November 2011
herausgegeben von ulrike peter und bernhard weisser
2013
translatio nummorumrömische kaiser in der renaissance
Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften / Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin),
Winckelmann-Gesellschaft Stendal, Winckelmann-Institut der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
translatio nummorumrömische kaiser in der renaissance
cyriacus. studien zur rezeption der antikeband 3
in kommission bei harrassowitz verlag
Zum Geleit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Vorwort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Einführung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Ulrich Pfisterer
›Sinnes-Wissen‹ Jean Siméon Chardin und die Numismatik zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
ANtIqUARE UNd IHRE SCHRIftEN
Martin Mulsow
Kaisermünzen und Konkurrenten Numismatische diskussionen zwischen Spanheim, Morell und ihren Gegnern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Michail Chatzidakis
Auf der Suche nach dem grossen Epikerdie Kenntnis der antiken chiotischen Numismatik in einer Berliner Zeichnung Ciriacos d’Ancona . . . . . . . . . 47
Jonathan Kagan
Notes on the Study of Greek Coins in the Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Wilhelm Hollstein
Die Fasti magistratuum et triumphorum Romanorum des Hubert Goltzius Eine Analyse der Münzbilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Henning Wrede
Der Nutzen der Numismatik bei Hubert Goltzius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Inhaltsverzeichnis
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
Ian Campbell
Pirro Ligorio’s Use of Numismatic Evidence Examples from his Oxford Codex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Patrizia Serafin
Pirro Ligorio e le monete tra storia e mitoL’esempio di Nerone (dal Codice Torino 21) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
ANtIqUARE UNd IHRE SAMMLUNGEN
françois de Callataÿ
The Numismatic Interests of Laevinus Torrentius (1525–1595), one of the Foremost Humanists of his Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
John Cunnally
The Mystery of the Missing CabinetAndrea Loredan’s Coin Collection and Its fate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Ursula Kampmann
Die Schellenberg-Briefe Ein wertvolles Zeugnis für den Kenntnisstand eines »normalen« Sammlers zur römischen Antike . . . . . . . . . 149
MüNZEN UNd WISSENStRANSfER
Ulrike Peter
Testimonianza veraErschließung römischer Münzen als historische quelle – das Beispiel Sebastiano Erizzo (1525–1585) . . . . 159
Peter franz Mittag
Die Erforschung der Kontorniaten in der Renaissance und deren Wirkung bis ins frühe 18. Jahrhundert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
MüNZEN ALS VORLAGEN
Andrew Burnett
Ancient Coins on Buildings in Northern Italy in the Late Quattrocento . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Alan M. Stahl
Roman Imperial Coins as an Inspiration for Renaissance Numismatic Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
dagmar Korbacher
Von der vera imago zur imago viva Zur Rezeption antiker Münzen im Medium der Zeichnung von Pisanello bis Leonardo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
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MüNZEN UNd BILdER
Gian franco Chiai
Imagines verae?die Münzporträts in der antiquarischen forschung der Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Ulrike Eydinger
Die Münze als Träger ikonographischen WissensEin Hilfsmittel bei der Identifizierung antiker Götterbilder in der Renaissance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Michele Asolati | Marco Callegari
Esempi di modelli iconografici nelle raffigurazioni monetali presenti in manoscritti e libri a stampa nella Repubblica di Venezia durante il XVI secolo . . . . . . . . . . 251
Neela Struck
Vergleichendes Sehendie Numismatik als Wurzel der Stilkritik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
AdAPtIONEN, tRANSfORMAtIONEN UNd fäLSCHUNGEN
federica Missere fontana
Tra aemulatio e frode: storie di monete, storie di falsi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Johannes Helmrath
Transformationen antiker Kaisermünzen in der RenaissanceEinige thesen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Karsten dahmen
(Um-)Wege der Auseinandersetzung mit der AntikeMedaillenkunst vor Pisanello – Anregungen und Vorbilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Vera-Simone Schulz
Vom Tyrannenmörder zum SouveränUmdeutungen des Brutuskultes im 16. Jahrhundert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Verzeichnis der antiquarischen Literatur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Personenindex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Autorenverzeichnis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
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1 for general introductions to the art of Renaissance coinage, see Aldo Cairola: Le monete del Rinascimento, Rome 1973; Andrea Saccocci: Aspetti artistici della monetazione italiana del Rinascimento, in: A testa o croce. Immagini d’arte nelle monete e nelle medaglie del Rinascimento, ed. by Giovanni Gorini et al.,
Padua 1991, p. 11–65. for the bibliography of the issues of indi-vidual mints, see Lucia travaini: Le zecche italiane fino all’unita, 2 vols., Rome 2011.2 Mario Bernocchi: Le monete della Repubblica fiorentina, 5 vols., florence 1974–1985, vol. 2, 1975, p. 49, no. 556.
from the early fifteenth century on, must have pre-sented to contemporaries a startling contrast to the coins they used every day [fig. 2]. Several aspects of the ancient coins distinguished them most from con-temporary issues and served as the basis of innovations which resulted in substantial changes to the appear-ance of the circulating coinage, as well as the creation of a new artistic medium in the medal.
the most significant difference between Roman imperial coins and those of the later Middle Ages was the obverse profile portrait bust of the ruler, usually with a laurel wreath or diadem, either dressed in clas-sical garb or with a nude truncation. the appearance of the reverse was also distinctive, usually dominated by an image of classical deities, monuments, or con-temporary scenes. A specific aspect of many Roman coins not found on medieval issues was the reverse ex-ergue line, often with letters beneath it. the legends on Roman coins were usually more detailed than those on medieval ones, and were in the Roman capi-tal letters used in epigraphy, rather than the Gothic font derived from medieval book hands. the Roman imperial sestertii were the coins most admired by Re-naissance humanists, specifically for their large size, their high relief, and the use of bronze, which was
While humanistic treatises and collection inventories offer insight into the reception of ancient coinage on the part of the Renaissance elite, the examination of the effect of this process on the design of contempo-rary coins and medals can provide direct evidence as to which aspects of those ancient coins were consid-ered worthy of emulation. Before the appearance of sixteenth-century books, the design of new coins is a valuable source of information on the reception of an-cient coins. Moreover, the circulation of such cre-ations extended the process of reception to all levels of the population and to other media of Renaissance material culture.1
Each Renaissance political unit issued coins in sev-eral denominations, with distinctive types or images, as well as varying metallic and weight standards. the most recognizable of these coins would have been the florentine gold florin, virtually unchanged in appear-ance from its inception in 1252 through the sixteenth century [fig. 1].2 Its obverse image of Saint John, re-verse heraldic fleur-de-lys, and brief legends in Gothic lettering were typical of the coinage of the European Middle Ages.
the ancient coins, especially the Roman sestertii, which were the subject of much humanistic study
Alan M. Stahl
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Alan M. Stahl
3 for the well-known debate on the subject between Enea Vico and Sebastiano Erizzo, see John Cunnally: Images of the Illustri-ous. the Numismatic Presence in the Renaissance, Princeton 1999, p. 134–137.4 Medieval European Coinage, vol. 14: Italy (III) (South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia), ed. by Philip Grierson, Lucia travaini, Cam-
bridge 1998, plate 28, 514.5 Alan M. Stahl, Louis Waldman: the Earliest Known Medal-ists: the Sesto Brothers of Venice, in: American Journal of Nu mismatics NS 5–6 (1993–1994), p. 167–188.6 Alan M. Stahl: A fourteenth-Century Venetian Coin Pattern, in: Rivista Italiana di Numismatica 95 (1993), p. 587–604.
novations, this effort has little impact on the efforts of his immediate successors.4
the end of the fourteenth century saw two at-tempts to imitate Roman sestertii; first in the struck bronze medal of the ruler of Padua francesco Carrara, and then in the struck bronze piece signed by Marco Sesto, produced in 1393 apparently to secure his posi-tion as engraver for the mint of Venice.5 this period also saw the introduction of likeness to the numismat-ic images of European rulers. It was almost certainly Sesto who produced a pattern silver grosso, in Renais-sance style, that featured a tiny portrait of the doge, whose likeness is confirmed by comparison with the portrait on the ruler’s manuscript ducal promise.6 the advanced style of the pattern was rejected, but subse-
rarely part of medieval coinage. It was the dissimilarity of these aspects to those of medieval issues which con-tributed to the controversy over whether sestertii had, in fact, been monetary rather than strictly commemo-rative objects.3
In the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centu-ries, various minting authorities adapted aspects of ancient coinage, especially of imperial Roman issues, to the products of their own mints. this was not an entirely new process; as early as the thirteenth century the Holy Roman Emperor frederic II had based his gold augustalis, minted for his southern Italian and Sicilian realms, on Roman models [fig. 3]. It was based on a rather generic but nevertheless distinctively Roman imperial prototype. Like most of frederic’s in-
1 florence, gold florin, 1436–39
2 Nero, oricalchum sestertius, 54–68
3 Italy, frederik II, Hohenstaufen, gold augustalis, 1198–1250 4 Pisanello, medal of John VIII Palaeologus, cast bronze, 1438–39 [scale 0,5:1]
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7 Id.: A fourteenth-Century Venetian Coin Portrait, in: Ameri-can Numismatic Society Museum Notes 30 (1985), p. 211–214.8 Stephen K. Scher: Pisanello‘s drawings and Medals, in: de-signs on Posterity: drawings for Medals, ed. by Mark Jones, Lon-don 1994, p. 27–46.9 MEC 14 (note 4), plate 54, 942.
10 Ibid., plate 56, 974 and plate 57, 989.11 Mario Ravegnani Morosini: Signorie e principati. Monete italiane con ritratto 1450–1796, 3 vols., Rimini 1984, vol. 3, 238–239, 1. 12 Ibid., vol. 3, 248–249, 8.
to 1488, ferrante included a silver portrait coronato [fig. 5] and bronze cavallo [fig. 6], the latter of which shows even more closely the influence of Roman pro-totypes in the radiate crown on the obverse, derived from Roman antoniniani and other double denomi-nations, and the reverse horse parading on an exergue line with letters and symbols beneath.10
Some rulers in northern Italy followed the lead of Naples in terms of portrait coinage, though the ducat of francesco Sforza of Milan maintained Gothic let-tering and a medieval approach to the reverse [fig. 7].11 the testone denomination took its name from the portrait head on the obverse, a sign of the significance to contemporaries of this aspect of the coin. On the testone of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Roman lettering re-placed the Gothic font on the coinage of his father, but the reverse continued to display a heraldic em-blem [fig. 8].12
An attempt in Venice in 1473 by the newly elected doge Nicolò tron to put his head on the silver lira [fig. 9] and the bronze bagattino [fig. 10] led the Great Council to pass a resolution to uphold republican principles by forbidding future issues with a ducal portrait, probably in recognition of the Roman prece-dent of an imperial portrait coinage succeeding the
quent circulating issues of the denomination retained the portrait.7
the ongoing use of a ruler’s portrait on Renais-sance numismatic creations began four decades later with Pisanello’s medal of John VIII Palaeologus, done from life on the occasion of the Byzantine emperor’s visit to Italy for the council intended to merge the Eastern and Western churches [fig. 4].8 for this object , the painter Pisanello adopted many of the distinctive aspects of sestertii, distinguishing his new creation from circulating coinage as well as ancient prototypes with its large size (about three times the diameter of sestertii), cast rather than struck manufacture, and pa-tently commemorative rather than monetary nature. In subsequent works, Pisanello used this format for depictions of contemporary Italian rulers, retaining the large size, cast production technique, and non-monetary nature of the object.
the earliest use of a prominent ruler’s portrait on European coinage was on the gold ducat of Naples of King ferrante, issued between 1458 and 1462.9 While the reverse displays a medieval heraldic type, albeit with a legend in Roman letters, a comparison with the contemporary portrait bust in the Louvre confirms the likeness of obverse portrait. In his issues of 1472
5 Naples, ferdinand I of Aragon (ferrante), silver coronato, 1472–88
7 Milan, francesco Sforza, gold ducat, 1462
6 Naples, ferdinand I of Aragon (ferrante), bronze cavallo, 1472–88
8 Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, silver testone, 1474
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13 Alan M. Stahl: Mint and Medal in the Renaissance, in: Per-spectives on the Renaissance Medal, ed. by Stephen K. Scher, New York 2000, p. 137–147.14 Ravegnani Morosini 1984 (note 11), vol. 2, 11, 4; 2, 22–38.
denominations depicting him with hair following Roman models and even a laurel wreath.14 the cava-lotto of Ludovico II di Saluzzo minted in Carmagnola [fig. 12] was also contemporary in the depiction of the ruler, and bore a reverse depiction of the ruler on horseback in a more complex rendition than earlier medieval renderings of the image.15 In ferrara, Ercole d’Este appeared on his testone [fig. 13] with a nude bust and a reverse figure of a horseman based on that of a coin of Philip II of Macedon, the obverse of which had borne an image of his own pagan namesake Her-cules.16
While some medalists followed the precedent of Pisanello in producing large medals by the casting process, others moved more closely in the direction of ancient coinage. In the early fifteenth century Valerio Belli struck a series of fantasy coins of such classical
Republican non-portrait issues. When a later doge, Andrea Gritti, tried to introduce his portrait onto the non-circulating donative osella coinage, it evoked an-other uprising of republican outrage and was replaced by a more traditional Venetian looking coin, which the diarist Ma rin Sanudo termed a ›bruta moneda‹.13
In the early Cinquecento, the influence of Roman coinage made itself strongly felt in the coinage of the humanistic courts of the Po valley. As the silver tes-tone denomination spread through the northern Ital-ian seigneuries, it became the medium for the intro-duction of portraiture onto their coinage. the clothing of the princes, however, often remained contempo-rary, and the reverse heraldic. In Mantua, francesco II Gonzaga issued a testone [fig. 11] whose main diver-gence from Roman prototypes was in his personal ap-pearance, while his son federico II issued a range of
15 Ibid., vol. 3, 103, 10.16 Ibid., vol. 1, 131–132, 6; Georges Le Rider: Le monnayage d’argent et d’or de Philippe II, Paris 1977, plate 13, 307.
9 Venice, Nicolò tron, silver lira, 1473
11 Mantua, francesco II Gonzaga, gold ducat, 1484–1519
13 ferrara, Ercole d’Este, silver testone, 1502–04
10 Venice, Nicolò tron, bronze bagattino, 1473
12 Carmagnola, Ludovico II di Saluzzo, silver cavallotto, 1475–1504
14 Valerio Belli, cast bronze medal of Aristides
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closed doors of the temple of Janus from a sestertius of Nero to the commemoration of the peace following the sack of Rome by Charles V. In the coin dies Cellini engraved for the papacy he was more restrained in his use of ancient Roman references.20 Later papal coins would adopt more classicizing reverse types, such as david dressed as a Roman soldier on a giulio of Julius III [fig. 18], or an image of the door of Saint Peter’s sitting on an exergual line on a testone of the Holy Year of 1575 of Gregory XIII [fig. 19].21
Cellini’s greatest contribution to the classicization of Renaissance coinage may have been in promoting its extension beyond the limits of Italy. While at fon-tainebleau in the court of francis I, he sculpted a uni-face portrait medal of the french king in Roman im-perial style. this medal was to serve as the model for the painted portrait of francis that titian did in Italy without ever seeing his subject, in which the Roman-ized appearance was replaced by more contemporary clothing and grooming.22 the testone coinage minted by francis bore the classicizing influence only in its obverse portrait; the remainder of the coin was fully
individuals as the fifth-century BC Athenian states-man Aristides, whose image never appeared on a coin issue in antiquity [fig. 14].17 Giovanni da Cavino struck copies so closely modeled on sestertii that his productions, called Paduans after his home town, have confounded more than one modern numismatist [fig. 15].18
In the middle of the sixteenth century, the sculptor and medalist Leone Leoni struck a highly classicizing medallic testone of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, with a reverse directly inspired by a coin of Augus-tus [fig. 16]. Its imperial obverse bust, replete with laurel wreath, served as the basis for a range of circu-lating denominations Charles issued as duke of Milan [fig. 17].19
Another sculptor who contributed to the adapta-tion of Roman coinage onto Renaissance numismatic creations was Benvenuto Cellini, who included a sec-tion in his treatise on goldsmith technique to the pro-cess of striking medals that were as high in relief as Roman sestertii. In his 1534 struck medal for Clem-ent VII, he adapted the well-known image of the
17 Sarah Lawrence: Imitation and Emulation in the Numis-matic fantasies of Valerio Belli, in: the Medal 29 (Autumn 1996), p. 18–29.18 Giovanni Gorini: New studies on Giovanni da Cavino, in: Italian Medals, ed. by J. Graham Pollard, Washington dC 1987, p. 45–54.19 Stahl 2000 (note 13), p. 141–142.
20 Ibid., p. 140–141.21 francesco Muntoni: Le monete dei papi e degli stati pontifi-ci, 4 vols., Rome 1972–1974, vol. 1, 1972, p. 188, no. 16; vol. 2, 1972, p. 29, no. 34.22 Marie Veillon: Influences de l’antiquité romaine sur les mé-dailles des rois de france (1450–1589), in: the Medal 29 (Au-tumn 1996), p. 30–38.
15 Giovanni Cavino, bronze imitation of a sestertius of domitian
17 Milan, Charles V, silver testone, 1535–56
16 Leone Leoni, Charles V, silver medallic testone, c. 1550
18 Rome, Julius III, silver giulio, 1550–55
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litical, cultural and monetary considerations. the lau-rel wreath or diadem seldom appeared on the head of a ruler below the rank of king or emperor. Reverses often bore Christian themes, if often in Classical style. the use of the exergue line was common but not uni-versal. Roman style lettering did become all but uni-versal. the large diameter of the ancient sestertius is-sues was approached only on silver coins that were based on the thaler denomination, and this transfor-mation, as well as the regular introduction of bronze denominations, derived more from monetary consid-erations than from classical influences. despite the best efforts of Cellini and of his successors, no mint of the early modern period, or even of our own age, has been able to produce a circulating coinage rivaling the high relief that made the Roman sestertii such an ob-ject of fascination to Renaissance humanists and to modern scholars.
Illustrations:All of the pieces illustrated are in the Princeton University Numis-matic Collection, department of Rare Books and Special Collec-tions, firestone Library.
medieval [fig. 20].23 It was only during the reign of his son Henry II that the obverse portrait took on such Roman characteristics as a nude bust and laurel wreath [fig. 21].24
By the end of the Renaissance, classicism had been established as the predominant style in numismatic design, at least in Italy and lands in its sphere of cul-tural influence. the portrait was widespread as an ob-verse type, often well beyond the realm of humanistic scholarship. Even in florence, however, obverse por-traits on the testoni of the Medici dukes of the six-teenth century contained a combination of ancient and contemporary elements, and reverses often bore depictions of local saints rendered in classical poses [figs. 21, 22].25 the change from the medieval florin of the fifteenth century was nevertheless striking.
throughout Europe, however, the triumph of Ro-man style in Renaissance coinage was tempered by po-
23 Jean Lafaurie: Les monnaies des rois de france, 2 vols., Paris 1956, vol. 2, p. 14, no. 653.24 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 66, no. 825.25 Ravegnani Morosini 1984 (note 11) vol. 2, 323–324, 1; 2, 327–328, 6.
19 Rome, Gregory XIII, silver testone, 1575
23 florence, Cosimo I de’ Medici, silver testone, 1567
21 france, Henry II, silver testone, 1547–59
20 france, francis I, silver testone, 1515–47
22 florence, Alessandro I de’ Medici, silver testone, 1533–36