Object Description
47 JULIUS II della Rovere, Pope 1503-13
Obv. Bust to right, wearing cope. Around, IVLIVS LIGVR PAPA SECVNDVS
Rev. Figure of Abundance, carrying cornucopia and stalks of grain. Around, . ANNONA . PVBLICA .
Bronze, struck, black patina, 35 mm.
The obverse belongs to a medal ascribed in the Corpus to Serbaldi, and is one of a group reattributed to Giancristoforo Romano by Weiss. Both Weiss and Hill attribute a number of struck medals to Giancristoforo on the basis of documents published by Paolo Giordani ("Studii sulla scultura romana del Rinascimento: Gian Cristoforo Romano a Roma," L'arte 10 (1907), pp. 197- 208). These documents were found to be spurious (see Enrico Brunelli, "Jacopo d'Andrea Scultore Fiorentino del Secolo XV," L'arte 11 [1908], pp. 373-77, and G. de Nicola, "Falsificazione di documenti per la statua dell'arte romana," Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft 32 [1909], pp. 55-60); thus the attributions cannot be supported, especially since, as Weiss notes, there is no stylistic similarity to the known cast medals by Giancristoforo. There is no documentation to support any attributions of struck medals of Julius II to Giancristoforo Romano. The reverse design is slightly smaller than the obverse, and is also known as the reverse for a medal of Clement VIII by Giorgio di Antonio Rancetti (Arm. 3, p. 1 48, A, 32 mm.).
Late restrike.
Bibl.: Corpus, no. 869 (obv.); cp. Arm. 2, p. 110, 7; Naples, p. 225; Mazio, no. 34; R. Weiss, "The Medals of Pope Julius II (1503-1513)," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 28 (1965), pp. 163-82 (at p. 172, n. 86, for the reattribution) ; Martinori, fasc. vi, p. 67.
