{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O102734"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102734/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY9210/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY9210/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AY9210","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9220","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O102734/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O102734","accessionNumber":"A.2-1966","objectType":"Medal","titles":[{"title":"Gian Lorenzo Bernini","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This medallic portrait of the famous sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned from François Cheron by Louis XIV. It has his portrait, at the age of 76, on the obverse and shows, in allegorical form, the various arts in which Bernini excelled: sculpture, architecture and painting. Bernini's experience of Louis' patronage, during his visit to France in 1665 had in fact been rather disappointing. His designs for the Louvre were never executed and his bust of the king had been unfavourably compared to Jean Warin's. This medal was made when Bernini was working on an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. When this arrived in France in 1685 the king disliked it so much that he had the head replaced and the statue banished to a distant part of the park at Versailles.","physicalDescription":"Cast medal in silvered bronze, showing the portrait of the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cheron, François","id":"A13377"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"AAT25181"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silvered bronze","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Coins & Medals","id":"THES48974"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AY9210","2006AY9220"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES395334"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Medal","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1674","earliest":"1674-01-01","latest":"1674-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"76","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'EQVES.IOA.LAVRENT.BERNINVS.ETATIS.SVE.ANNO 76'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"'Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini at the age of 76'","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscription on obverse."},{"content":"'SINGVLARIS.IN.SINGVLIS.IN.OMNIBVS.VNICVS.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"'Singular in each, unparalleled in all'","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscription on reverse."},{"content":"'F. Cheron'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Artist's signature, on both obverse and reverse."}],"objectHistory":"Bought from Alfred Spero for £9.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portait medal of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, bronze, by François Cheron, Italian (Rome), 1674","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Baldinucci, 53."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Forrer, L. <u>Biographical Dictionary of Medallists</u> London, 1923, Supplement, Vol. VII, p. 179."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Avery, Charles. <u>Bernini: Genius of the Baroque</u>, London, 1997, p. 274, ill. 397."}],"production":"Signed F. Cheron on both sides.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Bernini, Gianlorenzo","id":"N2079"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"PORTRAIT MEDAL OF GIAN LORENZO BERNINI (1598-1680)\r\nFrench, but made in Rome; signed and dated 1674\r\nSilvered bronze\r\nBy Charles Jean François Cheron (1635-1698)\r\nReverse: female figures representing the arts of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Geometry\r\n\r\nBernini was the most important sculptor and leading architect in Rome in the seventeenth century. He attended weekly devotion to the ‘good death’ in the Jesuit Church, and often pretended to be dying so as to prepare himself for ‘dying properly’, as he called it in his will. Bernini's model for Pope Alexander’s tomb is in the adjacent case. The pope commissioned a real coffin and marble skull from Bernini for the papal bedchamber as a reminder for his own morality.\r\n","date":{"text":"1993 - 2011","earliest":"1993-01-01","latest":"2011-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["A.2-1966"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1966,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2004-08-24","availableToBook":true}}