Mars and Victory

Galeazzo Mondella, called Moderno, Italian, 1467 - 1528

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about 1500

Bronze

Overall: 2 13/16 × 2 3/16 × 3/16 in. (7.2 × 5.6 × 0.4 cm)

Weight: 75 g (0.2 lb.)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Roger Arvid Anderson Collection - 250th Anniversary Gift, 1769-2019

2016.64.105

Geography

Place Made: Italy, Europe

Period

1400-1600

Object Name

Sculpture: Plaquette

Research Area

Sculpture

Not on view

Inscriptions

None.

Label

Bronze plaquettes and medals were sought after by European collectors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Made at a time when scholars and artists were increasingly interested in the Greek and Roman past, these metal casts could feature ancient history and myths to inspire their viewers. This group of bronzes celebrates ancient soldiers as models of valor. Such exemplars included both archetypal fighters and named figures. For instance, two plaquettes celebrate the mythological soldier Marcus Curtius, who sacrificed himself to the gods to save Rome by jumping into a crevasse. Other plaquettes feature imagined ancient battles, pausing the soldiers in courageous moments; they defend their city and drive back their enemies. In addition to being collected by the nobility, such medals could also be given as gifts as rewards for brave deeds.

From the 2023 exhibition Recording War: Images of Violence 1500 – 1900, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Academic Programming

Course History

ARTH 84, Media and Meaning in Renaissance Sculpture, Adrian Randolph, Fall 2013

Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Anthropology, Charis Ford Morrison Boke 1, Summer 2023

Studio Art 27.01/28.01/74.01, Printmaking I/II/III, Josh Dannin, Summer 2023

Facilitated Experience: Special Tour - From Goya to Photojournalism, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

Recording War: Images of Violence, 1500-1900, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 20-December 9, 2023.

Renaissance and Mannerist Plaquettes and Medals from the Collection of Roger Arvid Anderson, Class of 1968, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 19-November 21, 2013.

Publication History

Roger Arvid Anderson, The Roger Arvid Anderson Collection, Medals, Medallions, Plaquettes and Small Reliefs, Paintings, Sculpture, Works on Paper and Textiles, San Francisco: Roger Arvid Anderson (published privately), design by David L. Wilson, 2015, p. 122.

Provenance

Acquired by Roger Arvid Anderson, San Francisco, California, date unknown; lent to present collection, 1995; given to present collection, 2016.

Catalogue Raisonne

Kress, Fig. 162, No. 159; Wixom, No. 46

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