Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 3248
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): de Vries , Joyce.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Caterina Sforza's Portrait Medals: Power, Gender and Representation in the Italian Renaissance Court [Caterina Sforza ruled Forli and Imola after the murder of her husband. She commissioned a series of portrait medals that established her persona first as a noble young wife, then a widow-ruler, and finally as a triumphant regent. The medals use motifs associated with male political power to indicate her authority and success. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Woman's Art Journal 24, 1 (Spring/Summer 2003): Pages 23 - 28.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Decorative Arts Gender in Art Medals Metalwork Politics Portraits Regents Rulers Sforza, Caterina, Wife of Girolamo Riario, Ruler of Imola and Forli Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Six figures. Figure One Anonymous, Portrait Medal of Caterina Sforza, circa 1480-1484, obverse, bronze, 2 1/2" diameter (London, British Museum). Figure Two Anonymous, Potrait Medal of Caterina Sforza, circa 1480-1484, reverse, bronze, 2 1/2" diameter (London, British Museum). Figure Three Niccolò Fiorentino (attributed), Portrait Medal of Caterina Sforza, circa 1488, obverse, lead (later cast), 3" diameter (London, British Museum). Figure Four Niccolò Fiorentino (attributed), Portrait Medal of Caterina Sforza, circa 1488 and circa 1498, reverse, bronze, 3" diameter (London, British Museum). Figure Five Niccolò Fiorentino (attributed), Portrait Medal of Caterina Sforza, circa 1498, obverse, bronze, 3" diameter (London, British Museum). Figure Six Anonymous, Portrait of Caterina Sforza, woodcut, in Fra Filippo da Bergamo, "De plurimis claris selectibus mulieribus novissime congestum," 1497 (Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University, Houghton Library).
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  • Author's Affiliation: Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan.
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 02707993