Bronze medal with natural patina after Nicolas... Lot 44

Bronze medal with natural patina after Nicolas Leclerc and Jean de Saint-Priest, 1500 (year 1499 of the Julian calendar) A /Right profile of Louis XII in bust on a field of fleur-de-lys, lion passant in lower border. Inscription: + FELICE . LVDOVICO . REGNA[n]TE . DVODECIMO . CESARE . ALTERO . GAVDET . OMNIS . NACIO . (Under the happy reign of Louis Douze, all nations rejoice in another Caesar) R / Left profile of Anne of Brittany in bust on a field of fleur-de-lys on one side and semis of ermines on the other, lion passant in lower border. Inscription: + LVGDVN[ensi] . RE . PVBLICA . GAVDE[n]TE . BIS . ANNA . REGNANTE . BENIGNE . SIC . FVI . CONFL . ATA . 1499 (When the Republic of Lyon was rejoicing in the second reign of the good Queen Anne, I was melted down. 1499). Later casting D. 11.5 cm (suspension holes, slight edge damage) Works consulted : - J. Graham Pollard, Renaissance Medals, National Gallery of Art, Washington, volume 2, Washington, 2007, p. 598-601. - G.F. Hill and Graham Pollard, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Renaissance Medals, London, 1967, p. 100, ill. 527. - G.F. Hill, The Gustave Dreyfus Collection, Renaissance Medals, Oxford, 1931, p. 240-241 The first medal of this diameter to be cast in France in 1500 to honor the royal couple's passage through Lyon on their return from Italy, the now-lost original, modeled and cast in gold, was commissioned by the consuls of Lyon on March 15, 1500. Nicolas Leclerc and Jean de Saint-Priest were commissioned to create the models from drawings by the artist Jean Perréal, and the jewelers Jean and Colin Lepère to cast the piece. The size of this piece testifies to the influence of Italian medals, the fashion for which developed in the Quattrocento, and to the Italian taste of Queen Anne of Brittany, who, as a patron of the arts, introduced many styles and techniques to France through her various commissions. The importance and success of this medal are attested by the many successive editions that followed the gold original.