Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse)

Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) Italian

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 964

In the dreamlike nocturnal scene on the medal's reverse, an outsize unicorn lies gently at the feet of a half-clad maiden. Thus Pisanello, one of the great artists of the Renaissance, embraces the medieval legend of the taming of the unicorn to create a poetic metaphor for the life of Cecilia Gonzaga, seen on the obverse. This beautiful princess of Mantua refused to marry, choosing instead to remain a maiden and serve as a nun of the Order of Saint Clare. The traditional theological association of the unicorn with Christ, therefore, has particular resonance here. The crescent moon is apparently a reference to the classical virgin goddess Diana.

Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)

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Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)
Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)
Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)
Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)
Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)
Portrait medal of Cecilia Gonzaga (obverse); Innocence and a Unicorn in a Moonlit Landscape (reverse), Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (Italian, Pisa or Verona by 1395–1455), Bronze (copper alloy with warm brown patina under a worn layer of black wax)

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