This is a circular object featuring a sculpted relief of the side profile of a person from the shoulders up. The person faces towards the left and wears a plain shirt. They are bald on the top of their head, with curls of hair appearing on the side and back of their head. Their face appears wrinkled, especially around their mouth and cheeks. Encircling the person, there is text inscribed around the edge of the medallion. The material has a brown, aged surface and subtle hints of green patina in some areas.
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This is a circular object featuring a sculpted relief of the side profile of a person from the shoulders up. The person faces towards the left and wears a plain shirt. They are bald on the top of their head, with curls of hair appearing on the side and back of their head. Their face appears wrinkled, especially around their mouth and cheeks. Encircling the person, there is text inscribed around the edge of the medallion. The material has a brown, aged surface and subtle hints of green patina in some areas.

National Gallery of Art · Sculpture

Antonio Da Mula, c. 1460-after 1539, Duke of Candia 1536 [obverse]

Andrea Spinelli

Date
1538
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
overall (diameter): 4.01 cm (1 9/16 in.) gross weight: 27.92 gr (0.062 lb.) axis: 6:00
Classification
Sculpture · Medal/Medallion
Accession number
1942.9.173.a
Credit line
Widener Collection
Time span
1501 to 1550
Department
CSD

Subjects and terms

  • Venetian
  • Renaissance
  • Medals
  • struck
  • bust facing left
  • portrait
  • Mula, Antonio
Provenance

Oscar Hainauer [d. 1894], Berlin; by inheritance to his widow, Mrs. Julie Hainauer, Berlin; purchased 1906 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); by exchange 21 October 1920 to Joseph E. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Philadelphia;[1] gift 1942 to NGA. [1] A typed manuscript, “List of medals from the Hainauer Collection sold to Joseph Widener, Esq.” dated “October Twenty-First 1920,” is kept inside the front cover of the NGA Library’s copy of _A Cabinet of One Hundred & Thirty-Three Bronze Plaques and Medals of the Renaissance Period from the Collection of the Late Herr Oscar Hainauer of Berlin_, ed. Duveen Brothers, London, n.d. (but 1908), which came to the Gallery from the Widener library. Elsewhere in the Widener records, the circumstances of the acquisition are recorded by Edith Standen, the Widener’s curator: “Plaques and medals. These, formerly in the Hainauer Collection, were presented to Mr. [Joseph] Widener by Lord Duveen (then Sir Joseph) as a peace-offering. Mr. Widener had broken off relations with the firm two years before over a disputed enamel he had purchased from them and the medals, though originally offered at a much higher price, were given in lieu of the purchase money of the enamel.” (Gallery Archives, Record Group 3, Records of the Office of the Deputy or Assistant Director, Donor Files Relating to Major Collections, Box 21.)

Inscription

around circumference: ANT[onius] MVLA DVX CRETAE X VIR III CONS[iliarius] IIII

NGA object ID 1332. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.