Rutilio Gaci (Castiglione, ca. 1565 - Madrid, 1635), circa 1615

Bibliography: Cano Cuesta, M., Catálogo de Medallas Españolas, Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2005, p. 129).

 

  Unifacial medal with the portrait of Beatriz de Rojas y Castro, Spanish wife of the Italian sculptor and medallist Rutilio Gaci (Castiglione, ca. 1565 - Madrid, 1635). Gaci arrived in Spain in 1588 and worked designing and building several public fountains in Madrid, which have now disappeared; he also excelled as a wax portraitist and medallist: this practice led him to produce portraits of Philip III and Margaret of Austria, of Philip IV and of his wife, Beatriz de Castro, of which we present here a specimen, as well as his own self-portrait. The Museo del Prado in Madrid has several of these medals, although the one corresponding to the portrait of his wife (Cat.no. O001068) is in gilded bronze, while ours is in patinated bronze. The sitter is shown half-length and in profile to the left, wearing a high-necked dress and the typical ruff of the period, adorned with a pearl necklace. 

 

As an artist who was fully established in Madird, Gaci's companion in the city was Giovanni Battista Morelli, a sculptor and pupil of Alesandro Algardi. 

 

 

Price: on request