Images of the Illustrious: The Numismatic Presence in the Renaissance (review)

Reviews 215 Previously only k n o w n to specialists, the Book of Chivalry is n o w available to the modern English reader. Translated from the original French by Elspeth Kennedy and presented in a dual language edition introduced by historian Richard Kaeuper, it is an excellent text for anyone interested in knighthood and chivalry, and the Middle Ages generally. Richard Kaeuper's substantial introduction provides the reader with an historical and cultural context for Charny's text and also provides biographical information on Geoffroi de Charny, which is extremely helpful as such details are often difficult to find. It was the goal of Kaeuper and Kennedy to present Geoffroi de Charny to a wide range Of readers and they have achieved this admirably. With this translation the Book of Chivalry is n o w accessible to anyone interested in the Middle Ages and the phenomenon ofchivalry. It is a much needed and valuable edition to the available corpus of (translated) medieval texts of chivalry. Tania Fothergill Department of History Monash University Cunnally, John, Images of the Illustrious: The Numismatic Presence in Renaissance, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999; cloth; pp. xi, 230; 68 b / w illustrations; R.R.P. US$45.00. The 'images' in John Cunnally's title are the real or imaginary images of ancient Greeks and Romans, preserved on the ancient coins and medals which were eagerly studied by collectors and savants of later ages; the Renaissance portrait medals which the ancient coins inspired are not discussed. The introduction of printing, combined with the excellent effects which could be produced by woodcuts, led in the sixteenth century to the publication of elegant books containing drawings of ancient coins, the earliest, and still the most famous, being the Illustrium Imagines of Andrea Fulvio (1517). Cunnally's Chapter One, 'Perenni Vena Scaturiunt ("they gush forth from a perennial vein"): The Ubiquity of Antique Coins in the Renaissance', shows h o w the availability of ancient coins in Europe led to the creation of the numismatic book, which with a few exceptions, 216 Reviews such as Bude's philological work De asse et partibus eius, was at f principally concerned with iconography. A n interesting recurring phenomenon i s also discussed, the display in many locations of ancient coins of Rhodes bearing the facing radiate head of the sun god Helios. These were presented as examples of the Thirty Pieces of Silver. The reverse legend R O D I O N appeared as [HEJRODION or even RO[M]AlON in some books. This was intended to show that the coins were issued by Herod or the Romans. I t is likely (pace Cunnally p. 148 n. 13) that the rays surrounding the head were interpreted as a representation of the Crown of Thorns. They are described by Cunnally as tetradrachms, drachmas or didrachms. Since we are dependent for our knowledge of them on written descriptions, or on drawings of various sizes, all these names are possible. Chapter Two, 'Copia et Varietas Rerum: The Abundance and Variety of Numismatic Imagery', points out the attraction that ancient coins had for antiquarians and artists in the Renaissance because of the almost inexhaustible range of subjects which were represented on them. Their study reinforced the existing tendency to define historical reality in terms of the activities of the individuals represented on them. Books containing illustrations (real or imaginary) of figures from Greek and Roman history, in many cases based on coins, encouraged this tendency. Chapter Three, 'Infinite Riches in a Little Room: Titian's Portrait of Jacopo Strada', a detailed analysis of the well known painting of the Mantuan art dealer, might well have been published separately. I t is, however, related to the rest of the book by a general discussion of the ways in which collectors of this period housed and displayed their coins. The books shown on a shelf above Strada's head are his 1557 edition of Onofrio Panvinio's Fasti et triumphi romani and Strada's ow Epitome thesauri antiquitatum. Chapter Four, 'Qui Sic Amat Alienas Imagines: Ancient Coins as Sources of Virtu in Renaissance Italy', shows that most Renaissance students assumed that coins bearing portraits were...