I. Elisabetta's bust on a medallion 3½ inches in diameter; her hair braided under her cap, and gathered behind into a long pendant tail or fillet plaited with ribbon; her forehead, neck, and shoulders ornamented with chains; legend, "Elisabet Gonzaga, the Feltrian, Duchess of Urbino": which we give. The mystic science of emblematic devices was often used by medallists without proper discrimination; and Riposati avows himself unable to interpret its allegorical reverse: the French editor describes it as a nearly nude female reclining on the ground, her head supported against a wicket, grasping in both hands a fillet from which a wig flies away, with the motto, "This tell to fugitive Fortune"; he interprets her attitude as contemptuous towards a passing opportunity, in allusion to her recent widowhood spurning fresh ties.
II. The medal of Emilia was evidently a posthumous memorial; we reproduce it also. It is 3¼ inches broad, the bust in the costume of the Duchess, and is inscribed "Emilia Pia the Feltrian": on the reverse, a tapered pyramid crowned by a cinerary urn, with "To her chaste ashes." The whole is studiously classical, and pagan in feeling. Her name Pio, turned into the adjective pia, becomes a complimentary epithet.
In order to dismiss this branch of our subject, we may here mention, that, although a few smaller medals were struck for the second dynasty of Urbino, none of them are worthy of special notice; indeed, this art was entirely degenerate after 1500.
[BOOK FIFTH]
OF THE DELLA ROVERE FAMILY
[CHAPTER XXXI]
Birth and elevation of Sixtus IV.—Genealogy of the Della Rovere family—Nepotism of that pontiff—His improvements in Rome—His patronage of letters and arts—His brother Giovanni becomes Lord of Sinigaglia and Prefect of Rome—His beneficent sway—He pillages a papal envoy—Remarkable story of Zizim or Gem—Portrait of Giovanni—The early character and difficulties of Julius II.—Estimate of his pontificate.
ON the 21st of July, 1414, in the village of Celle, upon the Ligurian coast, near Savona, there was born to Leonardo della Rovere and Luchina Muglione, a male child, who, fifty-seven years thereafter, was called to fill the chair of St. Peter, from whence he showered upon his numerous relations temporal and ecclesiastical dignities. That Pontiff was Sixtus IV.; of these relatives many have already found a place in our pages; and from their stock sprang the second ducal dynasty of Urbino.