Italian Medals C.1530-1600 in British Public Collections

First developed in the princely courts of Renaissance Italy in the 1430s, in the 16th century medals were transformed into a recognisably modern form, in the messages they conveyed, the techinques employed in their manufacture, and the uses to which they were put. Contributing to this change were influential patrons including the Medici and the popes, as well as celebrated artists such as Leone Leoni and Benvenuto Cellini. This catalogue takes up the story where Sir George Hill's classic Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellni published in 1930, leaves off. This major catalogue includes over 1200 medals from the British Museum and the other major British collections, many published here for the first time. The catalogue entries provide detailed historical and iconographical information on the medals, many of which are published for the first time. The introductory essays discuss the centres of production, artists and subjects of the medals; the reasons they were made; their design, production and functions; the diffusion of the Italian medal throughout Europe in the 16th century and the history of collecting 16th-century Italian medals in Britain.