Medallion Plaster Cast Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini- by Matteo de Pasti 1446 Italy

Renaissance Period.

Original medallion was Cast in Bronze.

This plaster cast was taken from the original medallion at the British Museum, London.

Measures: 3" Medallion x 4 1/8" wooden backing. 

Matteo's medals are among the finest of the early Italian Renaissance. A follower of Pisanello, he was also a manuscript illuminator, painter, and architect. Characterized by simple forms, precise modeling, and harmonious compositions, many of his portrait medals relate to his role as artist and advisor to the Malatesta court in Rimini.

Matteo di Andrea de' Pasti (1420-1467/1468) was an Italian sculptor and medalist.

Matteo was born in Verona. He worked on many royal commissions, including work for Lionello d'Este and Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. Matteo collaborated with the architect Leone Battista Alberti on the design and construction of the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini. Some of his works reside at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the British Museum. He died in Rimini.

In 1461 he was sent by Sigismondo Malatesta to Istanbul to work at Mekhmed II's court. But the sculptor failed to reach Istanbul because he was arrested as a spy by the Venetian authorities in Crete.