Nomos 5

Italy. Baldovino Ciocchi del Monte. 1485-1556. Medal (Bronze, 42mm, 29.04 g 12), a very sharp original cast example, by G. Cavino, after 1550. COMES. .BALDVINVS DE MONTE Bearded bust of Baldovino to left, wearing robes and chain of office. Rev. MAGIS.VICI.SED TIBI (=I conquered more but it was for you) Nude horseman riding right, spearing cavalryman lying over his fallen horse to left; below right, fallen soldier; to right, arched gateway. Attwood 288. NG 450 = Kress 394. Very rare. A most attractive and sharp example with a fine reddish brown patina. Reverse slightly weak as usual. Extremely fine.

Baldovino was the brother of Pope Julius III (1550-1555) and the adoptive father, for cosmetic reasons, of Innocenzo, the young boy who had become the Pope’s lover. Baldovino himself was a fairly competent official who gained considerably from the patronage of his brother. His portrait by Cavino is an elegant one; the reverse, however, does not belong with this obverse and is thought to have originally been for a medal of Antinoos.