Andrea Gritti on Horseback before a Breached City Wall [reverse] 1512 - 1516

This bronze medal was made in Italy by Giovanni Falier, likely sometime in the first half of the 16th century. It depicts Andrea Gritti on horseback, riding before a breached city wall. The image creates meaning through its references to classical antiquity. The nude figure to the right, for example, is a common trope in classical sculpture, and it lends Gritti an aura of timeless authority. But the medal also speaks to the specific political context of its creation, referring to a historical event: Gritti's victorious capture of Padua in 1509. As a commemorative object, the medal can tell us a lot about the social function of art in Renaissance Italy. It testifies to the importance of patronage, and the ways in which rulers like Gritti used images to cultivate their public image. We can learn more about this by looking at civic records and court documents. The interpretation of art is always contingent on social and institutional context.