Some Limoges Enamels by an UnidentifiedMaster
of the writer's knowledge no representation of
this mark has yet been published, and
a sketch of it is therefore given here %
On account of some want of clearness in
the mark this must be regarded only as
an approximate rendering; it is shown
about twice the size of the original. There is no
reason to doubt that the initials, stamped in the
copper like those of certain well-known Limoges
artists, are those of the enameller, and the task of
suggesting a name to fit them offers an opportunity
for speculation among the recorded names of
enamellers of the period. The enamels evidently
date from somewhere about the year 1530. Their
dimensions are (A) 8*5cm. by 7 cm.; (B) 8*7cm.
by 6'9 cm.
Another little plaque, representinga bust of the
Virgin on a blue ground with MAmonogramsand
details in gold [PLATE, C] is figured as showing
many of the same qualities as the two pieces just
described. It is of about the same date and may
probably be attributed to the same hand. There
is the same laborious execution, outlining every
detail with a timid line of exceptional and unvary-
ing thinness (lines apparentlythicker are only the
result of the union of two or more); the same
NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS XVII*
BY G. F. HILL
CONSTANTINUS COMINATUS.
HE Macedonian prince who appears
on the fine medal here illustrated
[PLATE,A]1 is unidentified by Armand.
He is, however, mentioned under a
variety of names in the historians of
the end of the i5th and the beginning of the i6th
century. To Marin Sanuto, in whose " Diarii" he
occurs constantly from 1496 to I512, he is usually
Constantino Arniti or Arianiti, but also sometimes
Cominato; a form Commeno which is sometimes
found is perhaps due to a false assimilation to the
name of the famous Byzantine family. He was
the son of the despot of Servia; his widowed
mother appears in Sanuto's diaries, in 500oo,as
Despida Cominata. Being related to the Greek
Maria, whom Bonifazio I of Monferrat married
in 1485, he found a place at her court. When
she died in 1495 he succeeded her as regent for
the young Marquis Guglielmo II.
In 1499
Louis XII, on a charge of lukewarmness in the
French cause, deposed him and imprisoned him in
Novara. He, however, escaped to Pisa, where he
was immediatelyappointed to a militarycommand.
* See Vol.
xxiv, No. cxxx (Jan. 1914), p. 21I, where will be
found referencesto previousarticlesof this series.
1 Illustrated
from the Berlin specimen (Armand,II, 183A). I
owe a cast to the kindnessof Drs. Menadierand Dressel. There
is anotherspecimen in the Vienna Cabinet.
scrupulouscare in the jointing of the long fingers;
the same high degree of etmpcatement,the result of
using a white enamel of thick consistency, pro-
ducing a surface in tangible relief; and there is a
similar quality of colour in the delicate blue of the
robe. The subject is said to be taken from an
anonymous German engraving. The back is
covered with a brownish translucent enamel
differing slightly from the clear flux which coats
the reverse of the first two pieces. This specimen
is also in the Victoriaand AlbertMuseum(No. 4750-
I86o), and measures To cm. by 8 cm.
Another example apparentlyby the same master,
marked with what is probably the same stamp
("poin5on I C couronne"), was in the Spitzer
collection, a plaque mounted as a pax, representing
the Adoration of the Magi.2 I have not succeeded
in tracing the present whereabouts of this piece,
which makes a fourth item in the group of works
by yet another master whose identity is concealed
from us under the initials I C. Fortunately for
those who occupy themselves with the problems
of Limoges enamels, his work is entirely distinct
in style from that of any later master who owned
the same initials.
2 Spitzercollection. Sale Catalogue,Paris, I893, lot 579, pl. xvi.
From 1501 we find him in the service of the Pope
as diplomatic agent; and henceforward,until he
disappears from Sanuto's pages, he is constantly
moving between Germany and Rome, equally
favoured and officially accredited by both Pope
and Emperor, and also occasionally in command
of troops, as when in I509 he saved Vicenza from
going over to Venice after the Venetians recovered
Padua. He was tall, says Sanuto (III, col. 1381),
black-haired,and a good speaker.
Who made the medal? To both Mr. Max
Rosenheim and to Dr. Regling it has suggested
Lysippus. Apart from the strongly classicizing
style of the reverse, there is the mark of the two
leaves below the bust, which is so often found on
the medals by the Roman artist as to be almost a
signature.2 The account given above of the man's
careerdoes not begin before 1496; but it is of course
quite possible that he may have been in Rome ten
or fifteen years earlier,so as to come chronologi-
cally within the scope of Lysippus.3 But the
swaggeringstyle of the portraitseems to be foreign
to that gentle artist. The chevelure, as Armand
remarks,reminds us of Lodovico il Moro. That,
2 See Biurlington Magazine,
Aug. 19o8, p. 274.
3 "Aranitos
Comonatus, Grecus" is mentionedby Burchardin
a list of protonotarii participantes on I Jan., 1497; evidently a
relation of our man. One D. Constantinusis mentionedocca-
sionally by Burchardas Captainof the Papal Guardfrom I504
to 1506.
221
Notes on Italian Medals
of course, is only the fashion of the time; but I
am inclined to regard the medal as of North
Italian, probably Lombard origin, and as having
been made during Cominato's regency ratherthan
afterwards,when lie would probably have added
to his name some indication of his position as
papal or imperial orator.
ROBERTO DA SANSEVERINO.
A medal of the celebrated condottiere who
played an important part in the militaryhistory of
Italy, from the time of Francesco Sforza until his
death in 1487, has long been known.4 It is illus-
trated in the PLATE, B, from a specimen (not a
first-rate casting, but old) in the British Museum.
The portrait,which represents him at a consider-
able age, wearing a chain, has no little dignity.
The inscriptiondescribeshim as Robertusde Sancto
Severino Kagonensis Italiae Capitaneus generalis.5
The reverse design is less distinguished-a some-
what too dainty Victory, in fluttering dress, trips
along, carrying a wreath and holding up her skirt
with her left hand. The workmanship has some
Florentine affinities,although it does not by any
means belong to the neighbourhood of Niccolo
Fiorentino. The portrait is that of an old man,
and as Roberto is called Captain General of Italy,
it was doubtless made after his breach with
Lodovico il Moro in 1481; from that time onward
he might, as being usually in the employ of Venice
or the Pope, or both, perhaps claim the title which
the medallist gives him. The only Florentine
medallist of the time whose style this piece recalls
is Adriano Fiorentino. It has not his lettering; it
has not the ugly border of large pearls which he
usually, though not invariably, employs; it has
not his ungainly composition; but the treatment
of the bust, with the prominent shoulder, recalls
one of his mannerisms; and on the reverse we
have-as on the Pontano medals, if they are his-
a single figure, in a rather empty field, with a
short, widely spaced inscription. Though one
may hesitate to attribute it definitely to him-he
is a shadowy and puzzling enough figure already--
it seems that it is in his neighbourhood, before he
left Florence for Naples, that we should look for
the author of this piece.
If this medal has long been known, anotherand
4 Armand, II, 61, 12.
5" Ragonensis " is puzzling. It can hardly be a mistake for
" Aragonensis ", even if that could be used as a synonym for
"Neapolitanus", which I doubt. Nor do I know of any con-
nexion with either Ragona in Calabria or Ragogna in the
Veneto which would explain it. Mr. W. H. Woodward, how-
ever, suggests that it may refer to Regnano, a fortified hill-town
near San Severino in the Marche.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE OPPOSITE
(A) Constantinus Cominatus. Berlin. (D) Hercules, Nessus and Deianira. Plaquette by Giov. Bernardi
(B) Roberto da Sanseverino. British Museum.
(c) Roberto da Sanseverino and Lucrezia his wife. Collection
of Mr. Maurice Rosenheim.
222
a very interesting medal of the same person is,
apparently, unpublished [PLATE, C]. Unfortu-
nately it only exists, so far as I know, in a I6th-
century lead casting, which has but ill withstood
" the wreckful siege of battering days ". Never-
theless, if it is a wreck, it is easy to see that the
original was a beautiful thing. It is in Mr.
Maurice Rosenheim's collection, and measures
91 mm. in diameter. On the obverse are the
confronted busts of Roberto and his wife, Lucrezia
of Siena. Lucrezia has suffered severely; the
ugly mass on her cheek-partly perhaps repre-
senting curls, but also partly mere accretion due
to bad casting-and the injury to her lips and
nose take away most of her charm. Nevertheless,
the group is very attractive, and the bust of
Roberto, which has come better out of the wars,
is fine. The posing and the whole spirit of the
composition suggest Ferrareseinfluence; but it is
difficult to make a definite conjecture. One name
which has been put forward, Sperandio, we may
promptly reject; the work is without either his
force or his coarseness. The attribution was
doubtless suggested by the superficialresemblance
to his medal with the confronted busts of Ercole I
and his duchess Eleonora.
On the reverse-and this is the proof that we
have only a i6th-century casting before us-is a
reproduction of an oval plaquette with Hercules
shooting at the centaur Nessus, who carries off
Deianira on his back to the left. In the right
background is a river-god seated, leaning on his
urn, from which flows the stream which separates
Hercules from the centaur. The original plaquette
was by Giovanni Bernardi (born I496), and the
Berlin specimen (here reproduced [PLATE,D]) is
actually signed IO.6 Of the signature no trace
remains on the reverse of our medal.
The plaquette has an interest of its own. It
seems that it was inspired by the picture, or by a
drawing for the picture, by Antonio Pollaiuolo,
representing the same subject. The picture is
now at New Haven, in the Jarves collection.7 It,
or some drawing for it, or a variation of it,
inspired Diirer with an idea for a Herculesslaying
the Stymiphalian Birds. In Bernardi's plaquette
the composition is naturally much compressed,
and many details altered; Deianira rides astride,
and the centaur's attitude is slightly different,
since he turns his back to the spectator, instead
of his front as in the picture. Also Bernardi has
6
Berlin, I223, Molinier, 331.
7Burlington Magazine, March I906, p. 53; M. Cruttwell,
Antonio Pollainolo, p. 78, with P1. x. The date of the painting
appears to be about 1467.
da Castelbolognese. Berlin.
 ? i
- :-

i: : : r:

. .

is

>,,C
-::

! a ? ?; ;-

a4
ff~~~?

I.

NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS-XVII


added the river-god in the background, to make
up for the landscape which he very sensibly
omitted.
To return to the obverse. Roberto is younger
than on the other medal, and is described merely
as Armor(um) ductor. Lucrezia of Siena is
Lucrezia Malavolti, his third wife; I have been
unable to ascertainthe date of his marriage,which
is probably also the date of the making of the
PORTRAIT HEADS, THE CHATEAU VIEUX, ST. GERMAIN
BY ELSIE ROSENBERG
HE castle of St. Germain, recently
restoredand converted into a museum
for national antiquities, contains a
chapel decorated with some extra-
ordinarily interesting portrait heads.
Their position on the high vaulted roof of the
chapel, and the consequent difficultyin distinguish-
ing them, readily accounts for the fact that they
almost invariablyremainunnoticed by the average
visitor. It is more difficult, however, to account
for the scant attention they have received at the
hands of the art critic and archaeologist. The
museum authorities consider them very fine speci-
mens of French I3th-century sculpture, and as
such they may prove of interest to the readers of
TheBurlingtonMagazine.
Dominating the Seine valley from its wooded
height, and commanding a superb view of Paris
in the distance, St. Germain-en-Laye, as early as
the I2th century, was chosen as a site for the
residence of the kings of France. The names of
some of those who successively occupied the castle
will give an idea what variedfortunes the old walls
have looked down upon. From the ascetic atmo-
sphere of the reign of S. Louis, the castle passed to
more opulent days, when Francis I made it
the habitation of his luxurious court. During
the reign of Henri II, Mary Stuart lived there.
Destined to become the bride of the dauphin, she
was taken to St. Germain when a mere girl, and
educated there, together with the royal children.
Henri IV and Louis XIII occupied the chateau,
as did subsequently Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil.
But this good king, qui voyait si largement, as
the French delight in saying, unscrupulously
demolished and altered the old castle to suit
the practical purpose of housing his numerous
courtiers. A storey was built on the roof of the
chapel. The new buildings, with projecting
pavilions, constructed by Mansart, besides hiding
the chapel, robbed it of much of its daylight.
The magnificent terrace of St. Germain, which
the world owes to Louis XIV, was built at this
king's behest by the landscape architect, Le N6tre.
It became the favouritepromenadeof the monarch.
From this point of vantage, rising above the roofs
0 227
Notes on Italian Medals
medal. Judging from style, we may date it in
the decade 1470-80, and the other medal between
1481 and I487.
The profile of Roberto is somewhat differently
rendered in the two medals, even allowing for
losses in the recasting of the lead medal; one
may notice, for instance, the nose, which is dis-
tinctly more aquiline in the medal first described
than in that where he appears with his wife.
of Paris, the towers of St. Denis met his eye.
Here, his ancestors lay buried. Tradition has it
that, depressed by this constant reminder that he,
too, was mortal, he would have no more of St.
Germain. Versailles was accordingly built and
the court installed there.
The old castle-it is called le Chateau Vieux
in contradistinction to the new buildings which
had been added-did not remain empty long.
It served as a refuge to Henrietted'Angleterrewho,
even before the decapitationof CharlesI, fled to her
native land. Louis XIV offered it subsequently
to her son, James II of England. This unfor-
tunate king, together with his family and banished
courtiers, occupied the castle from the time of his
exile until his death. James's daughter, Louise-
Marie, was born in the Chateau Vieux and chris-
tened in the chapel, which, in the days of
the residence of the kings of France, had been
the scene of many royal baptisms and mar-
riages. Prince James-Edwardspent his early days
there, but after the death of his mother, Maria
d'Este, the chateau remained practically un-
inhabited. About fifty years ago the work of
restorationwas begun. This brought to light the
chapel, which had been completely masked by the
haphazardstructures Louis XIV had built around
it. It is one of the oldest parts of the building,
belonging to the finest Gothic period of France.
The newly-found sculptures which it contains
present features of unusual interest for the history
of art of the I3th centuryas well as for iconography.
On the keystones of the ogival arches, supporting
the roof-vaulting, are rosettes of sculptured foliage
-a not unusual form of decoration. Surmounting
these, exquisitely carved in the round, were found
seven portrait heads. Their distributionis curious.
The rosettes of the three nave arches are decorated
each with two heads, whereas the seventh head,
somewhat larger than the others, occupies a
dominating position on the sculpturedkeystone of
the apse vault. In the opinion of Monsieur
Daumet (one of the architects of the restoration)
this head representsS. Louis; the others,members
of his family. An objection to this theory, on the
grounds that these busts may represent biblical