bavarikon4UDescription
Obverse: LEONELLVS - MARCHIO - ESTENSIS. Half-length portrait to the left.
Reverse: OPVS PISANI - PICTORIS. Two male figures in the nude stand on rocks and carry baskets with olive branches on their shoulders.
The renaissance period gave rise to a flourishing of the art of medal making in Europe, which was connected inextricably with the strong revival in the arts, culture and sciences. Starting in the late mediaeval period, this development was going to spread from the northern Italian cities through all of Europe.
Antonio Pisanello (1395-1455) was a collector of ancient coins, painter and one of the leading medal makers of the Renaissance who adapted his knowledge of the ancient models artfully for his own creations. Against this background, he managed to produce in 1444 one of the most beautiful medals of the Italian Renaissance based on his own painted portrait of Leonello d'Este (1407-1450), duke of Ferrara. For the depiction on the reverse scholars suggested two possible interpretations. One of them proposed a symbol of peace, while the other supposed a depiction of the motto “Festina lente” (“Hasten Slowly”).