Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 8 20 Sep 2017
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Commemorative Medals, Italy, Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), sculptor and architect, cast bronze portrait medal, 1674, by Charles Jean François Chéron (1635-1698), bust of Bernini to r., wearing gown, signed on truncation, EQVES. IOA. LAVRENT BERNINVS. ETATIS. SVE. .ANNO 76 1674, rev. allegorical figures of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Mathematics, SINGVLARIS. IN SINGVLIS. IN. OMNIBVS VNICVS., 71mm. (V&T.19, 6; Johnson 125; Rizz.886; BDM.I, 420; Hall I, 575), the medal still wrapped in its original 17th century folded paper, this inscribed, 'Joa. Laurentius Berninus', good very fine
Louis XIV commissioned Chéron to make this medal, even though the King's patronage during Cheron's visit to France in 1665 had been disappointing. The figures on the reverse represent the various arts in which Bernini excelled: sculpture, architecture and painting. At the time that this medal was made, Bernini was working on an equestrian statue of Louis XIV, which on its arrival in France, was so disliked by the King that he had the head replaced and the statue banished to a distant part of the park at Versailles.
The Alan Irvine Collection of Historical and Artistic Medals (400-500 GBP)
Louis XIV commissioned Chéron to make this medal, even though the King's patronage during Cheron's visit to France in 1665 had been disappointing. The figures on the reverse represent the various arts in which Bernini excelled: sculpture, architecture and painting. At the time that this medal was made, Bernini was working on an equestrian statue of Louis XIV, which on its arrival in France, was so disliked by the King that he had the head replaced and the statue banished to a distant part of the park at Versailles.
The Alan Irvine Collection of Historical and Artistic Medals (400-500 GBP)