{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O313596"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O313596/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN5212/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN5212/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AN5212","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN5211","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O313596/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O313596","accessionNumber":"A.321-1910","objectType":"Medal","titles":[{"title":"Nicola Vicentino","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Nicola Vicentino (1510-1577) was an Italian composer and musical theorist of the Renaissance. He is best known for his invention of two musical instruments with double keyboard (neither of which survives), represented on the reverse of this medal. \r\nThe <i>arcicembalo</i>, or \"super-harpsichord\" containing thirty-six keys to the octave, was constructed in 1555. He devised his <i>arciorgano</i> or \"super-organ\", before 1561.","physicalDescription":"Medal depicts on the obverse bust to left of Nicola, in a long beard. Inscription.\r\nOn the reverse an organ with double keyboard, and a kind of spinet with double keyboard. Inscription.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze","categories":[{"text":"Coins & Medals","id":"THES48974"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[{"text":"Renaissance","id":"AAT21140"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AN5212","2006AN5211"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES395753"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Medal","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Lombardy","id":"x29366"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1570","earliest":"1565-01-01","latest":"1574-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Salting bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"4.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'VINCENTINVS NICOLAS'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"obverse"},{"content":"'PERFECTAE MVSICAE DIVISIONIS  Q  INVENTOR  / AR[CIO]RGANVM / AR(C)H[IC]ENBALVA'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"The inventor of perfect music and division","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"reverse"}],"objectHistory":"From the Salting bequest.\n\nHistorical significance: The medal, possibly commissioned by Vicentino himself (Gaetani, 1761-3, I, 5), celebrates his invention of the two instruments, both of which appear on the reverse, while the obverse presents his portrait in profile. Daolmi (1999, 193-216) dates the medal ca. 1570 by comparison to his earlier portrait aged forty-four on the frontispiece of <u>L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica</u> in 1555. The inscription on the frontispiece declares that Vicentino is  \"the inventor of the practical division of the chromatic and enharmonic mode of the <i>arcicembalo</i>\" (ARCHICYMBALI DIVISIONIS CHROMATICIQ AC ENARMONICI GENERIS PRACTICAE INVENTOR), which thus clarifies the inscription on the reverse of this medal as referring to Vicentino's subdivision of the chromatic scale  (Attwood, 2003, no. 193). \r\nFor the successive attributions given to the medal see Attwood (2003, no. 193)","historicalContext":"Nicola Vicentino (1510-1577) was an Italian composer and musical theorist of the Renaissance. He revived the study of ancient Greek music theory and practice to link it to contemporary music, and is best known for his invention of two musical instruments with double keyboard, neither of which survives. \r\n The <i>arcicembalo</i>, or \"super-harpsichord\" containing thirty-six keys to the octave, was constructed in 1555, the year of the publication of his <u>L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica</u> [or Ancient Music adapted to Modern Practice], where he described his invention. He also devised the <i>arciorgano</i> or \"super-organ\", described in Vicentino's <u>Descrizione dell'arciorgano</u> in 1561.As Philip Attwood writes, 'the larger number of keys on [both instruments] provided a wider range of tonality than was generally available to sixteenth-century musical instruments' (Attwood, 2003, no. 193).","briefDescription":"Medal, bronze, of Nicola Vicentino, unattributed, Italy, Lombardy, before 1572","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Salting Bequest (A. 70 to A. 1029-1910) / Murray Bequest (A. 1030 to A. 1096-1910)'. In: <u>List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (Department of Architecture and Sculpture)</u>. London: Printed under the Authority of his Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Limited, East Harding Street, EC, p. 46"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hill, G. F. <u>The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals</u>, Oxford, 1931, p. 231, no. 508, pl. CIX"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Attwood, Philip. <u>Italian Medals 1530-1600 in British Public Collections</u>, London, 2003, no 193"},{"reference":{"text":"Burns, Howard, et al., <i>Andrea Palladio 1508-1580: the Portico and the Farmyard</i>, London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1975.","id":"AUTH347555"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"formerly ascribed to Alessandro Vittoria","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Vicentino, Nicola","id":"N12566"}],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Vicentino, Nicola","id":"N12566"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"musical instrument","id":"AAT41620"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.321-1910"],"accessionNumberNum":"321","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1910,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-11","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}