103659 | ITALY. Pietro Aretino of Venice bronze Medal.

103659  |  ITALY. Pietro Aretino of Venice bronze Medal. Issued 1537 (37mm, 26.08 g, 12h). By Leone Leoni at the Venice mint.

 

DIVVS • P • ARRETINVS • FLAGELLVM • PRINCIPVM • (the divine Pietro Aretino, the Scourge of Princes), draped bust left // VERITAS / ODIVM / PARIT (truth engenders hate [—adapted from Andria by Terentius]) in three lines within wreath; 1537 above, LEO (artist's signature) below wreath ties. Edge: A few scattered marks and typical striking irregularities, otherwise plain.

 

Cf. Scher Coll. 164 (for a cast from circa 1550); Armand I 162.3; Pollard [Bargello] 716; Voltolina 294; Serenissima Coll. 99; Forrer III, p. 402. Choice Extremely Fine. Exceptional chocolate brown surfaces, with some hints of brilliance remaining among the fields and darker aspects highlighting the devices. A wondrous example that is the version which features the artist's signature upon the reverse, and a superior specimen compared to the slightly later cast example in the Scher collection, which is the format in which this type is generally encountered.

 

Ex: Triton XIV (3 January 2011), lot 1427 (where it sold for $3,000 hammer, plus a buyer's fee of an additional 15/18%).

 

Ex: Numismatica Genevensis SA 4 (11 December 2006), lot 766 (where it sold for ChF 2,875 after the buyer's fee [$2,389 at the time]).

 

A splendid struck original from a popular High Renaissance medallist, Leone Leoni, this mid-16th century specimen features an imposing bust of Pietro Aretino, about whom Scher writes that "...Aretino's sharp tongue and his parodies of eminent figures earned him the title on the obverse, which is first recorded in the third edition of Orlando Furioso (1532) by Ludovico Ariosto. Leoni and Aretino were friends; early on, Aretino even served to advance Leone's career. Valerio published a list of the books authored by Aretino, where he used the present medal as a frontispiece."

 

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Upload: 20 July 2026.