Representations of enseignes in pictures are too frequent to permit of
any attempt to enumerate them. It is impossible, however, to refrain
from drawing attention to the fine male portraits of Bartolommeo Veneto,
an artist of marked individuality of character, who worked at Venice
from about 1505 to 1530. He appears to have delighted in painting with
peculiar care the beautiful enseignes worn by his sitters--attractive
jewels enamelled in _ronde bosse_, and contemporary with the Windsor
"George" and its fellows. The examples of his work that display such
ornaments in the most striking manner are in the following collections:
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Dorchester House, London; the Crespi
Gallery, Milan; the collection of Baron Tucher at Vienna; and the
National Gallery, Rome.[145]
[145] _L'Arte_, II, p. 432, 1899.
One of the most exquisite jewels of the Renaissance is a medallion of
enamelled gold numbered 5583 in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. It
is oval, and in a space of 2 by 2-3/16 inches contains a composition of
no less than twelve men and eight horses in high relief, representing a
battle. Horsemen and foot-soldiers in antique armour are engaged in
furious combat, and many have fallen. One horseman carries a banneret
which flies in the wind. The background is enamelled green, and the
figures, delicately modelled, are white, save for their armour and
weapons, which are reserved in the gold. The frame of the jewel is
furnished with four loops, which clearly explain its use (Pl. XXIX, 2).
Its design offers an interesting comparison with two cameos (Nos. 643
and 644), themselves fanciful renderings of the subject of another cameo
(No. 645), and an intaglio, the work of Matteo del Nassaro, in the same
collection, both undoubtedly inspired by the famous painting after
Raphael, known as the Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge (A.D.
312), in the so-called Gallery of Constantine in the Vatican.
Among the jewels in the public collections in London, which on account
of their design or form were presumably intended to be worn in the hat
or cap, there are several noteworthy examples. The Wallace Collection
contains a circular gold enseigne, repoussé, chased, and partly
enamelled, with a representation of Judith carrying the head of
Holofernes. It is probably Italian. In the Waddesdon Bequest at the
British Museum is an oval badge enamelled in relief with the Judgment
of Paris. It is of the same minute style of work as that of the
"Battle-Piece," and is of striking similarity to a drawing by Hans
Mielich, in the Royal Library, Munich.[146]
[146] Hefner-Alteneck (J. H. von), _Deutsche Goldschmiede-Werke
des 16^t^e^n Jahrhunderts_, Pl. 12.
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