My friend Leo

If we look at the text on this medal we can read “MICHAELANGELUS BONARROTUS FLOR(entinus) AET(atis) S(uae) ANN(orum) S” which is a Latinized version of his name, Michelangelo Buonarotti, who came from Florence and has the age of ‘S’ (we will talk about this later). There is one other piece of text we’re interested in right now, though. Right underneath the shoulder of the great Florentine master is another name, ‘LEO’. This was the signature of the man who designed the medal, Leone Leoni, written right next to the name of Michelangelo himself, like a good friend, forever by his side.

Leone Leoni and Michelangelo met in 1538 when Leoni was working for the Papal Mint in Rome, and they became friends. Michelangelo recommended Leoni for a large and prestigious project for the tomb of Giangiacomo de’ Medici, the pope’s brother, which would become one of the most memorable achievements of Leoni’s lifetime. As thanks for helping him secure this project, Leoni designed a medal honoring Michelangelo. Kelly Helmstutler Di Dio, Leone Leoni and the Status of the Artist at the End of the Renaissance (Ashgate: Farnham, 1988), 5, 25-27.

The portrait on the front is likely based on an amulet Leoni made around the same time (see figures 1 and 2) and the back shows a curious scene (something we’ll talk about later as well). The medals were cast in bronze and silver in 1561 and Leoni sent four of them to Michelangelo as a gift.

“The one which is in the box is all recleaned. Keep it and look after it for love of me. Do with the other three what seems right to you.” Stephen K. Scher, The Currency of Fame. Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, (New York: Thames & Hudson, 1994) 155.

Michelangelo seemed to be very content with this warm gift and returned the favor by sending Leoni a wax model of Hercules that he made.Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists part 3, (trans. Gaston Du C. de Vere, 1915), p. 95

These medals were distributed among admirers, friends and acquaintances of the artist. They represented a certain intimacy with the subject, a privilege few people enjoyed. Michelangelo was commemorated like the great minds and powers of his time… and Leone Leoni would always be there with him, right on his shoulder. Maria Ruvoldt, The Italian Renaissance Imagery of Inspiration: Metaphors of Sex, Sleep, and Dreams, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 9.

Want to know more about the tumultuous life of Leone Leoni? Click below! Otherwise, let’s continue to learn more about the medal.