The Criminal Life of Leone Leoni
- Medal of Michelangelo
Leone Leoni did not spend every waking hour on creating medals for his friends. Leoni was born around 1509 as the son of a noble family in Arezzo. He was initially trained as a goldsmith and medalmaker. We don’t know much about his early life, but in 1533 he lived in Venice where he was introduced to the circle around the artist Titian. In 1538 he acquired a position as a designer at the Papal Mint in Rome, where he also first met Michelangelo. This job did not last very long, however, as he was accused of counterfeiting coinage in 1539 and subsequently of attacking the Papal jeweler just one year later. Leoni was initially sentenced to have his hand cut off, but his noble heritage and good connections saved him from this fate and he instead spent one year of forced labor in the papal navy.
After he was released from his year of slavery, he managed to bounce back quite quickly. First he got a new job at the Papal Mint of Milan and later he became a sculptor for the Spanish Imperial court where he worked for Charles V and his wife, Isabella of Portugal. Leoni managed to gain plenty of fame and money in these positions, but his life of crime and mischief didn’t end because of this.
Throughout his life a number of incidents would occur. He assaulted Titian’s son in 1559, and he allegedly blew up a church tower near Carrara one year later, nearly killing a parish priest. Apparently the noise of the bells annoyed him so much that he had to get creative in silencing them. Leoni had a violent temper and gained significant notoriety because of this. Yet he often managed to slip between the cracks of justice.