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Auction: 390 - Renaissance Plaquettes and Commemorative Medals featuring the Neil A. Goodman Collection - e-Auction
Lot: 150

ITALIAN, mid-16th Century
Pietro Aretino (1492-1556). Medal, Venice, ca. 1542. Bronze, 60mm. DIVVS PIETRVS ARETINVS, Bare-headed bust in profile left, with a long beard, wearing a surcoat with a fur collar over an open neck shirt and a simple chain, rev. VERITAS ODIVM PARIT, Naked Truth seated on a rock left, one foot on Satyr (Hatred) who kneels before her, being crowned by winged Victory while looking up at Zeus, in the clouds, holding a thunderbolt. One of six different medals of this sitter.
On this medal, Aretino (born Pietro Bacci) is given the title "Divus", but on other medals he is styled "Flagellum Principum" - the "Scourge of Princes". Both titles were bestowed upon him by Ariosto in the third (1532) edition of "Orlando Furioso". A poet, publicist, satirist and pornographer, Aretino achieved fame with a number of his writings, notably his "Ragionamenti" and "Sonetti Lussuriosi" which, illustrated with explicit prints by Marcantonio Raimondi, a pupil of Raphael, were extremely popular. He settled in Venice in 1527, received lavish gifts from powerful rulers in fear of his venomous pen, and befriended artists such as Titian and Leone Leoni. Armand II, 153, 11 and 111; Attwood 407, Bargello III, 760; Kress 484a; Pollard NGA 561. Yellow-brown patina. A near Extremely Fine old cast. Bishop & Miller International Coin Auction, Sale 1 (Suffolk), August 5, 2016, lot undetermined
From the Neil A. Goodman Collection

Sold for
$1,700

Starting price
$350