Notes on Pictures in the Royal Collections
Guiccioli does not appear to have been sent, as
Byron intended, to Murray.The furtherconnexion
between Thorwaldsen and Byron is well known.
In 1829 the Byron MemorialCommitteeauthorized
Mr. Hobhouse to entrust Thorwaldsen at Rome
with a commission to execute a statue of the
poet to be placed in Westminster Abbey. Thor-
waldsen, possessing his original study from the
life, had no difficulty in carrying out the com-
mission, which was completed in 1831 and sent to
England. Two successive deans of Westminster
refused the poet's statue admission to the Abbey.
When offered to Trinity College, Cambridge, it
DESCRIPTION
Notes on Picturesin the Royal Collections--XXXI--
Plate IV :-
NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS-XIX
BY G. F. HILL*
SCIPIONE CLUSONA
OME months ago Mr. T. Whitcombe
Greene acquired,and kindly lent to me
for investigation, the medal which is
illustrated on PLATE I. The obverse
shows the bust to left of a bearded
man wearing plate armour, with a double chain
round his neck. The inscription reads: scIPIo
CLVSONVS'EQVES'ET SVB VENETA REP'MILITVM
PRAEFECTVS'AN AETA On the reverse is a
XXVII"
phoenix in flames, with the inscription SICSTREPIT
IGNE' MEIS QVE PENIS GAVDET ACERBIS 'M'V
LIIII"
The medal measures 85 mm., and is a rathercoarse
in
casting bronze. There is little trace of chasing,
but the bird's neck has been helped out with the
tool. So far as I know, this is the only specimen
in existence. It is obviously Venetian work of the
middle of the i6th century. The treatment of
the hair and beard is particularly characteristic
of the Venetian school at the time; and the reverse,
with its rathersmall design in a spacious field, has
a sort of distant echo of the style of the " Medallist
of 1523," or, as we may, I think, now call him,
Maffeo Olivieri.' As regards the date, two things
* For previous articles see Vol. xxv (Sept. 1914), p. 335.
'I take this opportunity of protesting against my friend,
Monsieur de Foville's gallant but forlorn attempt (Rev. Num.,
1912, pp. 419 ff.) to identify the medallist of 1523 with Fra
Antonio (not Francesco di Antonio or Francesco Angeli, or
anything else) da Brescia, and for the following reasons: (I) The
works of the medallist of 1523 are all later than those signed by
F. A. B. Why, if F. A. B. made them, did he give up the habit
of signing his works, when he had signed so many in his earlier
days ? (2) There is no resemblance in style between the two
sets of medals. F, A. B.'s are wholly sincere and homely ; the
other man, though not insincere, shows a tendency to swagger
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE OPPOSITE
Notes on Italian Medals-XIX--Plate I :--
Scipione Clusona.
[A] Medal of Scipione Clusona, bronze, Venetian, mid-16th
cent. (85 mm.). On obverse:
scIPIo'CLVSONVS'EQVES'
was thought inadvisable to approach the then
master of the college on the subject. It was not
until Dr. Whewell became master that the offer
was made and accepted, and the beautiful statue
installed in Wren's famous library in that college.
Even this statue lacks the liveliness of the original
Thorwaldsen bust, though it forms a link in the
college history with the great poet, who is depicted
by Sanders just at the age when ne was leaving
Trinity College. It is satisfactory to know that
the painting by Sanders and the bust by Thor-
waldsen have passed into such good and safe
keeping as His Majesty'scollection.
OF PLATE OPPOSITE
II-The Bust of Lord Byron by Thorwaldsen.
[F] The original(?)versionin marble(NationalPortraitGallery).
are noticeable; first that it is given in the form
M'V LIIII,where we must presumably take v to be
used for 500, instead of D. The writingVCfor 500 is
common enough in manuscripts,and was doubtless
intended here, but the medallist has dropped the
small c. Second, the man'sage, which is given as 27,
seems too low. Italiansdeveloped quickly, but the
flesh has set about this man's face in a way that
shows him to be out of the twenties. It is possible,
then, that thereis a mistakein the figuresof the age,
and we shall try our hands at emendation a little
later. It is noticeable also that the lettering of this
portion of the inscription differs from the rest,
being slightly larger and less finished. It may
have been added at a different time or by a
different hand.
Unable to establish the identity of the man, I
consulted Mr. Van de Put, who immediately
called my attention to the painting which is illus-
trated on PLATE II, by kind permission of Messrs.
Ehrich of New York,the owners of the picture. The
and pose. (3) The supposed affinities in lettering are superficial;
the backward-leaning 0, for instance, is a mere fashion of the
time, and may be found in Venetian printing as early as 1477.
As regards the name of the Brescian, generally known as Fra
Antonio, Monsieur de Foville, before he can persuade me to
accept his change of name, will have to show (i) that FRA' is
an acceptable abbreviation of Franciscus; (2) that FRA'AN'
without the addition of F would be understood by any Italian to
mean Franciscus Antonii Filius; (3) that artists were in the
habit of signing their work with their father's name alone instead
of their own (since one of this man's most characteristic medals
bears the single initial A as a signature). I may add that the
probability of F. A. B.'s having been a friar is increased by the
fact that a medallist, evidently trained under his influence, was a
friar, and signed himself plainly " Frater lulius Brixiensis ".
ET SVB VENETA REP * MILITVM PR2EFECTVS' AN IETA
xxviI" On reverse: sic STREPIT IGNE* MEIS QVE
PENIS GAVDET ACERBIS'M*V'LIIII' (Mr. T. Whitcombe
Greene).
65
 Notes on Italian Medals
appreciationof the picture as a work by Tintoretto
must be left to more competent critics than myself.
I note here only that it is signed, just underthe coat-
of-arms,IACOMOTENTOR FECE MDLXI,while above
is the indication of age, AETATISSVE XD. Mr.Van de
Put had made a note of the coat-of-arms,which he
had identifiedas belonging to Clusonaor Clusoni of
Verona. Crollalanzagives the coat in two forms,
of which I quote only the first,since it corresponds
with that on the picture. Per fesse, (I) or, a double
headed eagle displayed sa., armed and membered
gu., each head crowned or; (2) arg., two bends az.;
and upon a fesse gu. broaching on the party-linea
winged two-legged dragon (or wyvern) couchant,
the tail nowed, vert.2
The indication of the man's age, XD,recalls the
early chapters of Genesis. The natural interpreta-
tion is to regard it as a mistake for XL,a figure
which suits the man's appearancewell.
Signor Giuseppe Biadego, of the Veronese
Archives, has kindly made research for documents
referringto the person concerned. The only entry
forthcoming at Verona tells us that in 1554Scipione
was involved in a lawsuit with one Alessandro
Florio or Fiorio; the podesta of Brescia pro-
nounced in his favour 7 xii 1554,and this judgment
was confirmed at Venice 15 xii 1557.'
That the medal and the picture represent the
same man, it is difficult to doubt. Apart from
the general facial type, observe the way the hair
grows and its soft woolly character,the shape of
the nose and the high cheek-bone. The same
2
This is the best that, with Mr. Van de Put's assistance, I can
do in the way of translating the Italian description of the coat.
He points out that the uppermost division is really a chief of the
Empire. The fesse cannot really broach over the party-line
without covering up parts of the charges above and below, and
this it does not do. Another possible blazoning would be:
Per fesse the dragon and the bends ; a capo dell' Imperio.
3 Verona, Archivio del Comune, Ducali, Vol. P; c. 44 v. Prof.
Castellani is also kindly making research in the Venetian
Archives, but his results have not come to hand at the time of
writing.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE OPPOSITE
Notes on Italian Medals-XIX--Plate II :--
Scipione Clusona.
SCULPTURESOF THE PARTHENON (continued)
BY W. R. LETHABY
THE WEST PEDIMENT
HE centralaction of the dramahaving
been considered, we may turn to the
groups of spectators on either hand,
nearly all of whom were reclining,
rising or seated.
Leake in 1821 made the first firm step in the
identification of these statues by naming four of
those on the left Cecropsand his daughters. He
also-and several of the older writers agreed with
him-looked for Erechtheusbut gave this name
66
double chain appears in both portraits. The
points of contact seem to me to be too remarkable
to be merely coincidental.
But if both are portraits of Scipione Clusona,
there is something very wrong in the dates on
one of them. Assuming that we are right in
reading XD as XL,still he who was in his fortieth
year in I56I cannot have been in his twenty-
seventh in 1554. Let us assume that his fortieth
year corresponded to 1561-62; we have as much
right to assumethat as the otheralternative I56o-6i.
Then his thirty-secondyear corresponded to 1553-
54. At the time, then, when the medal was made,
if it was not made too late in 1554, he could be
described as AETATIS SVAE XXXII. And anyone
who has readprinters'proofs knows how easy it is to
read xxxII as xxvII. My suggestion is that the best
way of escaping from the muddlewhich undeniably
exists is to assume that this mistake was made by
the medallist. I must admit that the man looks a
good deal older than thirty-two, and that the whole
structureof conjecture which I have erected rests
upon the assumption that XD in the painting re-
presentsXL. But these are difficultieswhich do not
disappearif we argue-as some of my readers have
doubtless been thinking all the time --that the
picture and the medal do not represent the same
man. If someone will invent a satisfactory
emendation of the medal-inscription which will
bring the man's age up to over forty, I shall be
willing to give up the identity of the two persons.
But then it will also be necessary to account for
the presence in Venice in 1554 and I56I of two
differentmembersof the same family, both holding
important military posts, who are extraordinarily
alike in appearance. Such a contingency is, of
course, quite possible, but-entia non sunt multi-
plicanda prceaternecessitatem.
I cannot explain the meaning of the reverse,
which seems to be outside the ordinary cycle of
phoenix allusions.
Portrait of Scipione Clusona by Tintoretto (Messrs. Ehrich, New
York) inscribed ETATIS SVE XD and JACOMOTENTOR FECE
MDLXI.
to the figure now best known as Hermes. In 1841
he pointed out that the remaining figure in the
left-hand angle of the pediment and a lost com-
panion, both beyond Cecrops," were probably his
successors, Amphictyon and Cranaus ". Subse-
quently it was thought that Cockerell had been
more correct in putting a female figure in the gap.1
'Cockerell's drawn restorationof this pediment has never
been improved upon except in a few details. Schwerzek's
restoration closely resembles it and is inferior in expressing
the general character.
iN

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NOTES ON PICTURES IN THE ROYAL COLLECTIONS-XXXI SCIPIONE CLUSONA NOTES O

PLATE IV PLATE I