Giovanni Maria Mosca (Called Padovano) and Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio. A Revision of the Oeuvre of Italian Medallists at the Court of the Last Jagiellons

The article presents new findings and arguments on the attribution of a group of medals produced during the reign of the last Polish kings from the Jagiellonian dynasty – Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus. These medals were created in the first half of the 16th century at the courts in Krakow and Vilnius by two artists who came from Italy – Giovanni Maria Mosca (called Padovano) and Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio. The artists had different artistic formations, and they work differ significantly from each other in both technique and style. Mosca’s and Caraglio’s medals, being among the oldest medallic portraits of Polish kings, were frequently copied for the needs of collectors over the following centuries; only a small number of originals are known. The author revises known specimens of the Padovano medals and, in the case of Caraglio’s medallic oeuvre, rejects the attribution of some of the works made to this artist.