Portrait medal of Giovanni Alvise Toscani

Lysippus the Younger

ca. 1475 (possibly cast early 16th century) · Bronze (copper alloy with a warm brown patina) · Robert Lehman Collection

Milanese by birth, Giovanni Alvise Toscani was a lawyer, orator, and Latin poet. He began his career under Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan, before going to Rome in 1468, where he became advocate to the assembly of cardinals and auditor under Pope Sixtus IV. Lysippus made six medals of Toscani, indicating their close friendship; this example is the largest and finest. The reverse contains a laudatory inscription surrounded by a laurel wreath: PREVENIT AETATEM INGENIVM PRECOX (His precocious genius runs ahead of his age).

Artist

Lysippus the Younger

Date

ca. 1475 (possibly cast early 16th century)

Medium

Bronze (copper alloy with a warm brown patina)

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975