CAMELIO, surname of VITTORE GAMBELLO (Ital.). Venetian Sculptor, Goldsmith, Coin-engraver, Founder, and Medallist, 1460 † 1539. His father, Antonio da San Zaccario Vittore, and brother, Briamonte, were both Goldsmiths. Camelio's artistic career ranges from 1484 to 1523, his first known medal being that of Pope Sixtus IV., 1484, and the last mention made of him is dated 1523, and relates to his medal of Andrea Gritti. In 1506, Camelio was appointed "Maestro delle Stampe nella Zecca " to engrave the obv. of the coins called Marcelli and Mocenighi of the Doges Giovanni Mocenigo, and Marco Barbarigo, on which the Doge is represented kneeling in front of St Marcus. On the 24th of June, 1515, Pope Leo X. called him over to Rome, and appointed him " Magister stamparum " in conjunction with Pier Maria da Pescia. Mr. Charles Perkins, in " Sculpteurs italiens ", vol. II, p. 231, appreciates Camelio's talent in the following words : « Tout á la fois sculpteur, fondeur en bronze et médailleur, doué d'un remarquable pouvoir d'imitation, il contrefaisait les médailles antiques avec une si rare perfection qu'il trompait souvent m?me les plus habiles connaisseurs. Quelquefois, comme dans les deux portraits qu'il nous a laissés de lui, il adopta le style antique ; d'autres fois, dans le portrait de Gentile Bellini, par exemple, il imita, sans toutefois les égaler jamais, les grands médailleurs italiens. Son absence d'originalité et sa tendance á imiter les styles les plus opposés se retrouvent dans ses marbres et dans ses bronzes ". Camelio was the first to cut dies in steel. The following medals, coins and plaques by him are all sought for and very much prized by experts : Gentile Bellini, Venetian painter, 1427-1507; — Giovanni Bellini, Venetian painter, 1427-1516 (illustrated); — Vittore Camelio, the artist himself (2 types), one dated, 1508; — Cornelio Castalido, jurisconsult and poet, † 1537; — Francesco Faseolo, High Chancellor of the Senate of Venice, 1513 ; — Domenico Grimani, Venetian, born in 1463, Cardinal, 1493-1523 (2 var.); — Pope Sixtus IV., 1471-1484; — Pope Julius II., 1503-1513 (G. Milanesi doubts the correct attribution of this medal to Camelio, as it is signed V. C. which is not the usual signature of the artist); — Agostino Barbarigo, Doge of Venice, 1486-1501; — Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice, 1523-1528; — Plaque, obv. Hercules carrying stag, and Satyr R. Ram near altar and burning tripod; — Pope Leo X., Double gold zecchino, R. The three wise men from the East perceiving the star ; — Silver testoni R. Christ and his apostles, and Pope kneeling presenting to St. Peter a model of his church; — Plaque, representing a lion; — Bacchanalian sacrificial scene, &c. — Some of these pieces were formerly erroneously attributed to Caradosso. Camelio's earliest medal, that of Pope Sixtus IV., must have been executed before 1484; his last of Doge Andrea Gritti is dated 1523. Fabriczy observes : "In den ersten Arbeiten, wie den Bildnissen des Malerbrüderpaars Gentile und Giovanni Bellini, zeigt Gambello noch die kräftig realistische Auffassung des Quattrocento; in den späteren wird er weicher im Ausdruck, verschwommener in der Modellierung. " Camelio was also a clever imitator of antique coins. His signature is V. CAMELIO;— V. C. F. ; — VICTORIS CAM. V., and perhaps also V. C. ; in most cases, however, it appears in full : OP. VICTORIS CAMELIO VE or VICTOR. CAMELIVS FACIEBAT. The date ot his death, according to Mr. Charles Perkins, is placed to 1539. Camelio is also the sculptor of the twelve Apostles in marble which adorn the church of S. Stefano at Venice, and of two basreliefs in bronze on the mausoleum of the great general Briamonte. , He was a poet too, as is shown by a sonnet of Cornelio Castaldo composed in his honour. Camelio marks the transitional period of medallic art between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; his works belong for the most part to the fifteenth, and some of them are so beautifully done that it is almost impossible to distinguish them from the antique, but the innovation of cutting dies in steel, which is attributed to him, and which allowed of more minute work being introduced on the medals, marks a new era in medallic engraving. Bibliography. — Bolzenthal, op. cit. — Armand, op. cit. — Heiss, Médailleurs de la Renaissance, 1887. — Molinier, Les Plaquettes, Paris, 1886. — Friedländer, op. cit. — Müntz, L'Atelier monétaire de Rome, 1884. — I. B. Supino, II medagliere Mediceo, Firenze, 1899. — Lazari, Notizia della Raccolta Correr. — Nagler, Monogrammisten. — Fabnczy, op. cit.
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904
BRUCKMANN, PETER
BRUCKMANN, PETER (Germ.). Medallist; born at Heilbronn in 1783 ; worked for some time at Vienna and Paris, and finally settled at Stuttgart. He did very good work in steel models which he executed for goldsmiths. As a medallist one of his finest and best known productions is probably an oval medallion, of excellent style, representing the three founders of Swiss liberty, Fürst, Stauffacher, and Melchthal, from the drawing by L. Vogel of Zurich. The following medals are also by him : Johann Conra...
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BRUCKMANN, PETER (Germ.). Medallist; born at Heilbronn in 1783 ; worked for some time at Vienna and Paris, and finally settled at Stuttgart. He did very good work in steel models which he executed for goldsmiths. As a medallist one of his finest and best known productions is probably an oval medallion, of excellent style, representing the three founders of Swiss liberty, Fürst, Stauffacher, and Melchthal, from the drawing by L. Vogel of Zurich. The following medals are also by him : Johann Conra...
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BRUCHER, ANTOINE
BRUCHER, ANTOINE (French). Engraver at the Medal Mint of Paris, 1558-1568. He is the author of jeton; for Sieur Durand, of Provins, 1557, Gendarmerie of France, 1560, Cour des Monnaies, 1560, and one with horseman on obv. and R. PARTA VICTORIA CLEMENS 1558. In 1564, he engraved the dies of Sols parisis for the Poitiers Mint, and in 1565, those for coins of the republic and dominion of Lucca, and also for Queen Mary Stuart. He is said to be the inventor of improved machinery for striking coins. I...
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BRUCHER, ANTOINE (French). Engraver at the Medal Mint of Paris, 1558-1568. He is the author of jeton; for Sieur Durand, of Provins, 1557, Gendarmerie of France, 1560, Cour des Monnaies, 1560, and one with horseman on obv. and R. PARTA VICTORIA CLEMENS 1558. In 1564, he engraved the dies of Sols parisis for the Poitiers Mint, and in 1565, those for coins of the republic and dominion of Lucca, and also for Queen Mary Stuart. He is said to be the inventor of improved machinery for striking coins. I...
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BRUCHER, PIERRE
BRUCHER, PIERRE (French). 1563-1572. Probably a relative of Antoine, and Guy Brucher, and perhaps the same as Pierre Bouchet, quoted by Barre, Graveurs généraux et particuliers des monnaies de France, 1867. Brucher was appointed Engraver at the Mint of Pau, on January 19, 1563, and to him may be attributed the Écus d'or, Testons, and Half-testons of Jeanne d'Albret, 1564- 1566, and the Testons struck at Pau, from 1568 to 1572. As Guillaume Martin occupied the post of Engraver-general to the Quee...
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BRUCHER, PIERRE (French). 1563-1572. Probably a relative of Antoine, and Guy Brucher, and perhaps the same as Pierre Bouchet, quoted by Barre, Graveurs généraux et particuliers des monnaies de France, 1867. Brucher was appointed Engraver at the Mint of Pau, on January 19, 1563, and to him may be attributed the Écus d'or, Testons, and Half-testons of Jeanne d'Albret, 1564- 1566, and the Testons struck at Pau, from 1568 to 1572. As Guillaume Martin occupied the post of Engraver-general to the Quee...
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BRUN, SILVESTRE JOSEPH
BRUN, SILVESTRE JOSEPH (French). Sculptor and Medallist of the beginning of the nineteenth century, born in 1792. In 1813, he obtained for gem-engraving the second prize at the Concours pour Rome. His finest gems are : Theseus raising the stone under which his father had hidden his arms, and Androcles recognized by the lion, 1817. As a sculptor, he produced some excellent work, and he largely contributed to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile at Paris. There is a large portrait medal of Louis XVIII....
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BRUN, SILVESTRE JOSEPH (French). Sculptor and Medallist of the beginning of the nineteenth century, born in 1792. In 1813, he obtained for gem-engraving the second prize at the Concours pour Rome. His finest gems are : Theseus raising the stone under which his father had hidden his arms, and Androcles recognized by the lion, 1817. As a sculptor, he produced some excellent work, and he largely contributed to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile at Paris. There is a large portrait medal of Louis XVIII....
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