UCLA

The portrait medal was arguably the preeminent humanist genre in the Renaissance, yet the medallic commissions of one of the era's most important patrons remain largely unexplored. Pope Julius II Della Rovere (born 1445, reigned 1503-13) commissioned more than two dozen medals, the earliest of which date from his cardinalate. Using semiotics and social art history, I place the medals in their appropriate political and art historical contexts while investigating the various sign systems employed in these complex works of art.

Portrait medals are double-sided objects inspired by ancient Roman coins. They allowed patrons to fashion personae using words and images with references to antiquity and princely authority. The reproducible format was distributed to nobles and diplomats, often with propagandistic intentions. Ruling during an exceptionally turbulent period in which the papacy was threatened by internal and external forces, Julius and his advisors shrewdly exploited portrait medals in order to project an image of strength and reassert Petrine authority.

As the temporal ruler of the Papal States and spiritual leader of Western Christianity, the pontiff was unlike any other sovereign figure in Europe. The unique nature of the position, which encompassed both secular and ecclesiastical roles, was reflected in the medals' inscriptions and iconography. I examine how the medals were used to construct various personae for the controversial cleric who spent much of his pontificate at war. The works of art combined biblical and classical content, thereby presenting the pontiff with a balance of piety and imperial strength. I argue that some medals cast Julius as a pastoral and priestly figure, while others compared him, both implicitly and explicitly, to the emperors of ancient Rome. A thorough study of the medals will provide a greater understanding of the pope's endeavors, including his attempted reorganization of Roman government, the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica, and the battle for control over the Papal States.