Lot 139: Leone Leoni (1509-1590) Martin de Hanna, bronze medal, 71mm., a sharp cast with dark brown patina Obverse: bare-headed bust of de H...

Leone Leoni (1509-1590)
Martin de Hanna, bronze medal, 71mm., a sharp cast with dark brown patina

Obverse: bare-headed bust of de Hanna in profile to right, wearing a gown, MARTINVS DE HANNA

Reverse: Hope, a female figure in swirling drapery, standing turning to the right, looking up and holding her hands up to rays issuing from clouds, SPES MEA IN DEO EST, signed LEO in small exergue

Martin de Hanna (1475-1553), a Flemish merchant, settled in Venice in the early 16th century. He was a patron of the arts and employed Pordenone to decorate his palace on the Grand Canal. His son Daniele was a patron of Titian, and it was probably Titian who introduced Leoni to him when the medallist visited Venice in 1544. Leoni made medals of him, his two sons Daniele and Giovanni, and his grandson Paolo, all dating from c. 1544-56.
Leoni used the figure of Hope again in 1550-51 as a decorative adjunct to his statue of the future Philip II of Spain.

References
Armand I, 165, 13 and III, 69p; Attwood 11; Bargello III, 715; Currency of Fame 49; Trés. Num. ii, XXXI, 10