The Sigmund Morgenroth Collection of Renaissance Medals and Plaquettes
Description
Intricately carved reliefs cast in metal or carved in wood, the Morgenroth Collection of medals and plaquettes rivals major collections of similar materials in the National Gallery in Washington DC or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The medals commemorate important personages and events, an ancient custom which was revived during the Renaissance. Displayed at AD&A Museum in a Wunderkammer or “cabinet of curiosities,” the medals are viewed by visitors as Italian collectors in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries experienced them. The plaquettes, both round and rectangular in format, are just inches in size, featuring delicate bas-relief portraits and scenes of mythological and Christian subject matter. The Morgenroth collection is among the founding collections of the museum and belongs to the art historical heritage of Santa Barbara. These extraordinary medals and plaquettes, amassed by Mr. Morgenroth primarily between 1927 and 1939, received their inaugural exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art from January to March 1943.
Collection Items
Artist unknown
Alfonso I D'Este, Third Duke of Ferrara
DE' PASTI, Matteo
Timoteo Maffei of Verona
BELLINI, Gentile
Mohammad II, Sultan of the Turks
FRANCIA, Francesco
Giovanni II Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna
FRANCIA, Francesco
Jacopo Bovio, Bolognese Jurist
CANDIDA, Giovanni (CANDIDA, Filangeri di?)
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy
CANDIDA, Giovanni (CANDIDA, Filangeri di?)
Nicolas Maugras, Bishop of Uzes
GIOVANNI, Bertoldo di
Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Magnifico
