Read the visual description
The sculpture is a medallion featuring the profile view of a man's head. The man is depicted with detailed facial features and short, wavy hair. The medallion is made of metal with a muted silver or bronze color. Surrounding the profile, there is an inscribed text along the outer edges of the medallion. The man is shown wearing a garment with a patterned texture around the neck resembling a high collar. The sculpture is intricately crafted, with fine attention to detail in the hair and facial characteristics, giving it a lifelike yet stylized appearance.
National Gallery of Art · Sculpture
Alessandro Sforza, 1409-1468, Lord of Pesaro 1445 [reverse]
Gianfrancesco Enzola
- Date
- 1475
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- overall (diameter): 7.98 cm (3 1/8 in.) gross weight: 252.77 gr (0.557 lb.) axis: 12:00
- Classification
- Sculpture · Medal/Medallion
- Accession number
- 1957.14.689.b
- Credit line
- Samuel H. Kress Collection
- Time span
- 1401 to 1500
- Department
- CSD
Subjects and terms
- Renaissance
- Parmese
- bust facing left
- portrait
- Ferrarese
- Sforza, Alessandro
Provenance
Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his heirs; purchased with the entire Dreyfus collection 9 July 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 31 January 1944 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1957 to NGA. [1] The Duveen Brothers Records document the firm’s sixteen year pursuit and eventual acquisition of the Dreyfus collection, which included paintings, sculptures, small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. Bequeathed as part of his estate to Dreyfus’ widow and five children (a son and four daughters), who had differing opinions about its disposition, the collection was not sold until after his widow’s death in April 1929. Duveen did not wish to separate Dreyfus’ collection of small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes, and it was sold intact to the Kress Foundation for a price that was met by installment payments every three months. (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 301, box 446, folders 3 and 4; reel 302, box 447, folders 1-6; reel 303, box 448, folders 1 and 2; reel 330, box 475, folder 4.) See also George Francis Hill’s discussion "A Note on Pedigrees" in his catalogue, _The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals_, Oxford, 1931: xii, which was commissioned by Duveen Brothers.
Inscription
around circumference: ALEXANDRO SFORTIAE DIVI SFORTIAE FILIO IMPERATORI INVICTISS[imo]
NGA object ID 44485. 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.