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Matteo de’ Pasti (active 1441-1467/8)
Italy, 1446
Bronze
Diam. 84 mm
Inv. no. 2419
Matteo de’Pasti was the medallist who most closely followed the art which Pisanello had recovered from Antiquity and which gave Renaissance figures a cheap and easy way to preserve their images for posterity.
Matteo worked for Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the Lord of Rimini, a condottiero and patron of the arts. As one of Sigismondo’s most trusted artists, he was chosen to produce the portrait of Isotta degli Atti, the lord’s third wife and the great passion of his life.
The date on the medal (1446) is not the real date of production, but is instead a symbolic date marking the start of Sigismondo’s relationship with Isotta. The profile bust of Isotta appears on the obverse, while the reverse bears an elephant, a symbol from Antiquity that is associated to strength and suggests the Malatesta family’s power. The choice of the rose and rosebush motif on both sides of the coin is related to the symbolism for the passion that this work expresses.
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