The Judgment of Paris

Inscriptions

Signed: IOF.F

Label

Themes of chivalry and masculinity were popular for small reliefs that could be adapted into personal adornments. Plaquettes by Giovanni di Fondulino Fonduli were so consistently transformed into sword pommels, book bindings, and hat badges that the artist seemingly selected scenes specifically to appeal to collectors. Both Fondulino Fonduli and Moderno depicted an episode from Livy’s History of Rome in which the Roman soldier Marcus Curtius sacrificed himself for the good of the city by plunging, dressed in armor and astride a powerful horse, into the chasm that threatened to destroy Rome. Such stories were the perfect subject for Renaissance collectors who were steeped in antique literature and traditions, while the theme of pious self-sacrifice offered an aspirational model.

Hat badges often featured complex allegories and symbols that held personal significance for the wearer. Inside the decorative border of Riccio’s plaquette, for instance, is a composition that is densely packed with objects that are recognizable individually—a putto, a satyr, a tree, a snake, a fountain—but together form an allegorical scene that remains to be deciphered. Worn as an adornment, it would have allowed the wearer to demonstrate their education and refinement.

From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

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

FRIT 34, Sex and Gender in the Italian Renaissance, Courtney Quaintance, Spring 2015

ITAL 7, Women in Renaissance Venice, Courtney Quaintance, Spring 2015

History 42.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 22.01, Gender & European Society, Patrick Meehan, Spring 2024

History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Noemi Perego, Spring 2024

Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Tania Convertini, Spring 2024

Italian 3.02, Introductory Italian III, Giorgio Alberti, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Antiquity in Rome from the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment: Selections from Dartmouth's Collections, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 7-September 9, 2001.

Critical Faculties: Teaching with the Hood's Collections, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 15-March 13, 2005.

European Bronzes from the Collection of Roger Arvid Anderson, Class of 1968, Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 19, 1996-June 22, 1997, no. 19.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hoood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 16, 2009.

Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.

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

T. Barton Thurber and Adrian W.B. Randolph, Antiquity in Rome from the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment: Selections from Dartmouth's Collections, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2001, listed p.71.

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. 141.

Provenance

Michael Hall Fine Arts, Inc., New York, New York; sold to Roger Arvid Anderson, San Francisco, California, about 1988-1990; lent to present collection, 1993; given to present collection, 2016.

Catalogue Raisonne

Kress, Fig. 134, No. 98

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Subjects