HIS name may not be familiar to many nowadays, but, in 1550, the Milanese medallist and gem-engraver Jacopo Nizola da Trezzo was famous enough to be included in the first edition of Vasari’s Lives—although, in the second (1568), the author somehow divided him into two artists, calling the new one Cosimo, presumably because da Trezzo’s first patron had been Cosimo de’ Medici.
Later, Vasari wrote, he took service with Philip II of Spain ‘who retains him about his person... He has no equal in making portraits from life’. When Philip was King of England (1554–58), he commissioned da Trezzo to make intaglio medals of himself and his wife, Mary Tudor. Afterward, the medallist accompanied him back to Spain and died there in 1589. The reverses of the medals bear allegories of the utmost refinement that are highly regarded by numismatists.
The top price in Sotheby’s evening Old Master paintings session in December was £1,935,000, paid for a 23in by 16¾in portrait of da Trezzo (Fig 2) by Anthonis Mor (1516/17–76). The artists are likely to have been friends, as Mor had been appointed to Philip’s personal service only a few days before da Trezzo, an indication that he, too, was a favorite with the King.
Denne historien er fra February 12, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra February 12, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
