Commemorative medal honoring the 400th anniversary of the death of Michelangelo, Italy, 1964

Abstract

General Description:This medal was issued in 1964 as a commemorative tool to honor the 400th anniversary of the death of Michelangelo by the Academy of the Art of Design of Michelangelo.

Obverse Description: The obverse bears a detail of one of Michelangelo's Pieta sculptures (c. 1550) featuring Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, and the body of Christ. This particular sculpture currently resides in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence. Behind the detail of the sculpture are three tulips, and two bowed swan heads. Michelangelo's birth and death dates are on the right and left-hand side (respectively) of the detail. Surrouding the relief is the inscription, "L'ACCADEMIA DELLE ARTI DEL DESIGNO A MICHELANGIOLO NEL IV CENTENARIO DELLA MORTE, FIRENZE 1964" (The Academy of the Art of Design of Michelangelo in the Fourth Centuryof Death, Florence 1964).

Reverse Description: Encircling the outer edge of the reverse is the inscription, "DEUS MIRO ORDINE ANGELORUM MINISTERIA HOMINUMQUE DISPENSAT," (dispensed by the ministry of angels and men) in the surround, along with the inscribed artist's name "MOSCHI." In the center is a depiction of St. Michael the Archangel.

Historical Context:

Artist Biography: Moschi was born in Signa in 1896. He was the student of Domenico Trentacoste in Florence. He worked as a medal maker, but is known principally for his monumental sculptures: the Monument to the Fallen in Poggio a Caiano, the sculptures of the Glendale Mausoleum in Los Angeles, the statue of the Immacolata for the Basilica of Assisi, a Madonna in Piazza della Signoria, the bass-relief of Central Station representing Michelangelo. At the Venice Biennale of 1934, his ?Calciatore? (Footballer) won the CONI prize, and was used in the Olympic Games of 1936 as the model for the Monument to the Calciatore in the Olympic Stadium of Berlin. He founded the ?Gruppo Donatello?, with which he was the promoter of ?Art and Sport? exhibitions in Italy and abroad. He passed away in Florence in 1971.

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