Lot 221: [ ITALIAN MEDALS ]

GIOVANNI BATTISTA FOGGINI (1652-1725) Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), bronze memorial medal, GALILEVS LYNCEVS, bearded bust right, aged 50 wearing cloak; on truncation, AETAT L, rev., NATVRAMQUE NOVAT, a cannon showing the trajectory of the shot, a broken column supported on two pyramids, a large telescope, a compass and a pendulum; in the background, a seascape with lighthouse, a ship and the setting sun with phases of the moon; in the sky, the 'Medici planets', a crescent moon and a comet; below, in a small cartouche: MEMORIAE OPTIMI PRAECEPTORIS VINC VIVIANVS, 71.5mm (Vannel/Toderi 1, this piece; Voltolina 1030, this piece), edge filed, an extremely fine early cast

Provenance: The Serenissima collection, Arsantiqva, 8 November 2002, lot 78; The Estate of John R. Gaines, Morton & Eden, 8 December 2005, lot 35. This rare medal was commissioned by Vincenzo Viviani, a pupil of Galileo and later a famous geometrician and physicist. It seems likely to have been made in 1680 when Viviani commissioned Foggini to make a marble bust of Galileo. The bust and medallic portrait are very similar, hence the attribution of the medal to Foggini and, according to Vannel/Toderi, it is Foggini's only medal. A medal of Vincenzo Viviani which used to be attributed to Foggini but is now given to Girolamo Ticciati was included in the Lankheit collection, Morton & Eden, 20-21 May 2003, lot 734. Antonio Selvi, chief assistant to Soldani, produced another medal of Galileo (Vannel/Toderi 192).