Historical and Art Medals

Pietro Metastasio, 1805, a copper medal by T. Mercandetti, bust left, rev. seated Muse teaching young winged pupil to play the lyre, 66mm (BDM IV, 31). Minor obverse rim bruise at 2 o’clock, otherwise about extremely fine, scarce (£40-50)

Provenance:
The Property of a European Collector, DNW Auction 37, 8 September 1998, lot 1045.

Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi, aka Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782), Italian poet, playwright and the most celebrated librettist of 18th century opera seria. By 1730 he had become court poet to the Emperor Charles VI in Vienna. His 27 opera librettos, along with a further 47 librettos for oratorios and smaller works, were sought for their lyricism and dramatic power. Among the composers who set his work to music were Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and Cherubini