CESATI, ALESSANDRO, surnamed IL GRECHETTO (Ital.). Engraver of coins and gems, and Medallist, born at Cyprus, whence his surname, II Grechetto, and signature, A?E?AN?PO? EMOIEI, but of Milanese origin. As early as the year 1538 we find him working for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. He is considered as one of the best engravers of the Renaissance period. Michael Angelo declared that his medal of Pope Paul III. was a master-piece. Cesati was employed as Mint-engraver at Rome from 1540 to about 1561 under Paul III., Julius III., Pius IV., and Paul IV. He then was called upon to fill the same office at Parma; but his most important work was executed for Paul III. and princes of the pontiff's family. He is mentioned in 1562 for his medal of the hichess of Savoy. In 1564, he returned to Cyprus. Among Cesati's best known medals, I may mention : Pierluigi Farnese, first Duke of Parma, 1 545-1 547 ; — Alessandro Farnese, Cardinal, 1534-1589, obv. Bust to l. R. Cupid and winged dragon ; — Ottavio Farnese, second Duke of Parma, 1 547-1 586; — Pope Paul III. (Alessandro Farnese), 1 534-1 549, obv. Bust to r. R. OMNES- REGES-SERVIENTEI. The High-Priest of Jerusalem receiving homage from Alexander the Great kneeling at his feet; signature: A?E?AN?PO? EMOIEI (this piece is the only one that can be assigned to Cesati without any doubt, as it is signed ; it is a beautiful medal, and the one referred to by Michael Angelo, when he exclaimed that "Art could not advance beyond this ") ; — Do, obv. Bust to r., R. ?EPNH-ZHNO?-EYPAINEI. Ganymedes, nude, standing; his left hand resting on eagle's neck, whilst he holds with the other an urn from which he waters a lily, the emblem of the Farnese (2 var.) ;— Do, obv. Bust tor. R. a) NIKHTHPI?N within wreath ; — b) The church of St. Peter at Rome (2 var.); — Do, obv. Bust to r. R. a) Security seated to r. (illustrated) ; — b) St. Paul standing; — c) HARVM-AEDIVM-FVNDATOR. The Farnese Palace at Rome; — d) FARNESIA-DOMVS, &c. Same building; — Pope Julius III. (Giammaria del Monte). Jubilee of 1550; — Do obv. Bust to r.,R. KPATOYMAI. Prudence retaining Fortune; — Do obv. The Pope opening the Holy Gate R. The Holy Gate ; signed A?E?ANDER ; — Do, obv. Similar. R. Inscription in the field : GVIDASC-S-R-E, &c, 1550; — Do, obv. The Holy Gate. R. BEATI-QVI, &c. Bust of Christ.to 1.; —Do, obv. Bust of Pope to r. R. a) As last ; — b) The Villa Giulia, at Fontevergine , — c) Abundance standing to 1. ; — Emmanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoy, and his consort, Marguerite de France ; — The Duchess of Savoy. R. Pallas standing ; signed A.P., (on account of the signature A. P., it has been suggested that the two last medals do not belong to Cesati, but perhaps to Andrea Piacentino). Cesati is mentioned in Papal records as engraver at the Mint of Rome in 1552 and 1553. M. Bertolotti has established that he was employed in that capacity already some years before 1546 (probably from 1 541) and worked, under Popes Julius III., Paul IV., and Pius IV. There is a silver Testone with bust of Julius III. and Roman warrior seated on R., signed AC, which is undoubtedly by Cesati. As a Gem-engraver, the artist produced most beautiful work : a cameo exhibiting an admirable portrait of Henry II., King of France, engraved on carnelian, signed A?E?AN?POC EMOIEI : — another, with head of Phocion, a master-piece, regarded as one of the most exquisite of any works of that kind, and worthy of the best antique productions (illustrated) ; this gem was lot 538 of the Marlborough Collection, and was sold at Christie, Manson & Woods, on the 28th June, 1899, for ? 350. (It was pronounced by Vasari, in his life of A. Cesati, to be the nec plus ultra of the glyptic art) ; — intaglio, on burnt onyx, with lion facing in his den (formerly in the Pulskv cabinet); — three camei : a child a lion, and a female, nude, &c. It may be that some of the gems inscribed A?E?A, which cannot be attributed to the Greek artist, Alexas, on account of their modern style, were executed by Cesati, as are also those signed E??HN, the probable translation of Il Grechetto. President Faure habitually wore a scarf-pin with cameo by this artist. Dr F. P. Weber (Numismatic Chronicle, XVII, 314) is inclined to attribute to this artist the medals of Priam, Augustus, Alexander the Great, &c, which are not of uncommon occurrence. Vasari speaks of Cesati as the first medallist of his age. " Far beyond all others, " he says, "has gone Alessandro Cesati, called Il Greco, by whom every other artist is surpassed in the grace and perfection as well as in the universality of his productions. The works of this master, whether in camei, or whether he produced dies in steel with the gravers, are of such perfect excellence and exhibit all the minutiae of art rendered with such assiduous and patient care that better could not be imagined ". Fabriczy mentions as a curiosity that the Jubilee Medal of Julius III., 1550, described by Vasari " con un rovescio di quei prigioni che al tempo degli antichi erano ne' lor giubilei liberati " as only lately been discovered in one single specimen at the National Museum at Florence. Bibliography. — Bolzenthal, op. cit. — Armand, op. cit. — E. Müntz, L'atelier monétaire de Rome, Paris, 1884. — Bonnani, Numismata summorum Pontificum templi Vaticani fabricam indicantia..., Rome, 1696. — Bertolotti, Artisti Lombardi. — Dr Julius Friedländer, op. cit. — Grande Encyclopédie. — Grand Dictionnaire Larousse. — C. F. Keary. Guide to the Exhibition of Italian Medals, London, 1893— Dr J. Cahn, op. cit. — I. B. Supino, op. cit. — C. Von Fabriczy, op. cit. — Nagler, Monogrammisten, 1881.
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
CANZANI, DEMETRIO
CANZANI, DEMETRIO (Ital). Milanese Die-sinker and Medallist, of the third quarter of the nineteenth century. I have seen a medal of Prince von Schwarzenberg, on his election as governor of Milan, in 1850, with this engraver's signature : DEM. CANZANI F., and others on the Marriage of the Emperor Francis Joseph with Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria, 1854; — Visit of the Emperor Francis Joseph to Lombardy, 1851 ; — Visit of the Emperor and Empress to Milan, 1857 (2 var.) ; — Civic Hospital at Trieste...
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CANZANI, DEMETRIO (Ital). Milanese Die-sinker and Medallist, of the third quarter of the nineteenth century. I have seen a medal of Prince von Schwarzenberg, on his election as governor of Milan, in 1850, with this engraver's signature : DEM. CANZANI F., and others on the Marriage of the Emperor Francis Joseph with Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria, 1854; — Visit of the Emperor Francis Joseph to Lombardy, 1851 ; — Visit of the Emperor and Empress to Milan, 1857 (2 var.) ; — Civic Hospital at Trieste...
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CAPUTI
CAPUTI (Ital.). Medallist of the early part of the present century. There is a portrait of Cardinal Consalvi by him. Although the two names Capucci and Caputi occur in works of reference, I believe they represent only one artist, as Capucci, the gem-engraver is called Caputi in H. Lehnert's biography of the medallist Henri Francois Brandt. In the Duke of Cambridge's Sale (June 1904) was a circular onyx cameo of Saint George slaying the Dragon (The lesser George of the most noble Order of the Gar...
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CAPUTI (Ital.). Medallist of the early part of the present century. There is a portrait of Cardinal Consalvi by him. Although the two names Capucci and Caputi occur in works of reference, I believe they represent only one artist, as Capucci, the gem-engraver is called Caputi in H. Lehnert's biography of the medallist Henri Francois Brandt. In the Duke of Cambridge's Sale (June 1904) was a circular onyx cameo of Saint George slaying the Dragon (The lesser George of the most noble Order of the Gar...
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CAQUÉ, ARMAND AUGUSTE
CAQUÉ, ARMAND AUGUSTE (French). Medallist, born at Saintes in 1793 ; pupil of the Royal School at Rochefort, the Ecole d'application at Metz, and of Raymond Gayrard. From 1817-1818, he was employed as Assistant-engraver at the Mint of the Hague. Under Napoleon III., he was appointed Engraver to the Imperial Cabinet, a post which he held from 1853 to 1868. He died in Paris in December, 1881. Caqué largely contributed to Durand's " Series Numismatica Universalis Virorum Illustrium". Dr Weber menti...
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CAQUÉ, ARMAND AUGUSTE (French). Medallist, born at Saintes in 1793 ; pupil of the Royal School at Rochefort, the Ecole d'application at Metz, and of Raymond Gayrard. From 1817-1818, he was employed as Assistant-engraver at the Mint of the Hague. Under Napoleon III., he was appointed Engraver to the Imperial Cabinet, a post which he held from 1853 to 1868. He died in Paris in December, 1881. Caqué largely contributed to Durand's " Series Numismatica Universalis Virorum Illustrium". Dr Weber menti...
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CARADOSSO, CRISTOFANO
CARADOSSO, CRISTOFANO (Ital.). Goldsmith, Medallist, Coin-, and Gem-engraver. He was born at Mondonico, in the province of Como, circa 1445, and died at the beginning of 1527. He usually styled himself " Caradosso del Mundo". This celebrated artist flourished at Milan under Ludovico ll Moro, and after the fall of this prince, worked at Rome under the popes Julius II., Leo X., and Clement VII. Benvenuto Cellini praises him in very high terms as one of the greatest artists of his time and extols h...
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CARADOSSO, CRISTOFANO (Ital.). Goldsmith, Medallist, Coin-, and Gem-engraver. He was born at Mondonico, in the province of Como, circa 1445, and died at the beginning of 1527. He usually styled himself " Caradosso del Mundo". This celebrated artist flourished at Milan under Ludovico ll Moro, and after the fall of this prince, worked at Rome under the popes Julius II., Leo X., and Clement VII. Benvenuto Cellini praises him in very high terms as one of the greatest artists of his time and extols h...
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