{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O350071"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O350071/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BA1388/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BA1388/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BA1388","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BA1383","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JY2894","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O350071/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O350071","accessionNumber":"7131-1860","objectType":"Medal","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This bronze medal representing Cecilia Gonzaga is made by Pisanello in 1447 in Italy.\r\n\r\nCecilia Gonzaga became a prodigy of learning and chastity. She was one of the cleverest of Vittorino's pupils and astonished Ambrogio Traversari by her progress in Greek at the age of seven. She was tall and beautiful. She became a Clarissan nun at Santa Paola, a convent attached to the church of Corpus Domini in Mantua. Three of her brothers and a large crowd escorted her through the streets of Mantua, when she entered the convent.\r\nAlthough this medal commemorates this event, she is shown in secular dress with hair tied back. This suggests that Pisanello was not in Mantua in 1447 and used an earlier drawing.\r\n\r\nPisanello was born in Pisa or Verona, by 1395 and was an Italian painter, draughtsman and medallist. His richly decorative frescoes, courtly and elegantly painted portraits and highly original portrait medals made him one of the most popular artists of the day. He travelled extensively and worked for several Italian courts, at Mantua, Ferrara, Pavia, Milan and Naples. Many of his paintings have been lost or damaged, making a reconstruction of his career difficult. He is now better known as a medallist.\n\nTwo-sided Renaissance portrait medals were a form developed by Pisanello, and commemorated individuals or events and functioned as gifts and mementoes. They were inspired by the Roman coins, with their portraits of rulers and allegorical representations on the reverse, excavated all over Italy and eagerly collected by humanist scholars.","physicalDescription":"Medal depicts on the obverse the bust of Cecilia Gonzaga and on the reverse a maiden with a unicorn in a moonlit landscape.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Pisanello","id":"A1983"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze","categories":[{"text":"Coins & Medals","id":"THES48974"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006BA1388","2006BA1383","2017JY2894"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES395700"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Medal","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1447","earliest":"1447-01-01","latest":"1447-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"8.55","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"CICILIA . VIRGO . FILIA . IOHANNIS . FRANCISCI . PRIMI . MARCHIONIS . MANTVE","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"OPVS / PISAN / I. PICT / ORIS. /  M / CCCC / XLVII","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On the reverse on a tablet."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Cecilia became a prodigy of learning and chastity. \r\nShe was one of the cleverest of Vittorino's pupils and astonished Ambrogio Traversari by her progress in Greek at the age of seven. She was tall and beautiful.\r\nShe became a Clarissan nun at Santa Paola, a convent attached to the church of Corpus Domini in Mantua.\r\nThree of her brothers and a large crowd escorted her through the streets of Mantua, when she entered the convent.\r\nAlthough this medal commemorates this event, she is shown in secular dress with hair tied back. This suggests that Pisanello was not in Mantua in 1447 and used an earlier drawing.","briefDescription":"Medal, bronze, Cecilia Gonzaga, by Pisanello, Italy, dated 1447","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1860. <u>In</u>: <u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I</u>. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 27"},{"reference":{"text":"Scher, Stephen K, <i>The Currency of fame: portrait medals of the Renaissance</i>, New York, National Gallery of Art (U.S.), Frick Collection., 1994","id":"AUTH353437"},"details":"pp.52-53","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Gonzaga, Cecilia","id":"N10386"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"unicorn","id":"x30658"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["7131-1860"],"accessionNumberNum":"7131","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1860,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU3370"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-13","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}