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Giuliano II de' Medici

Roma Seated Holding Winged Victory
Bronze, cast, 33.6 mm Ø, 20.8 g
1513.
Obverse:  Bust of Giuliano de' Medici facing left with curly hair. Around, MAGNVS IVLIANVS MEDICES (The Great Giuliano de' Medici).
Reverse:  Roma seated to the left on cuirass and shields on which her left hand rests. Her right hand holds a figure of winged Victory, which is facing right with a wreath in her outstretched hands. To the sides, C P (With the Agreement of the People), and in exergue, ROMA (Rome).

In 1513, Giuliano's elder brother, Giovanni, was elected Pope and took the name of Leo X, leading to Giuliano being admitted as a citizen and patrician of Rome. This medal, along with two other variants, was made for distribution to the crowds at festivities celebrating this occasion. Giuliano was also made Captain General of the Church and Gonfalonier of the Church.

Hill notes that the C P on the reverse is explained by a contemporary source as standing for the Italian phrase consenso pubblico, while Pollard in the NGA catalog attributes the abbreviation to the equivalent Latin phrase consensu populi.

Provenance:

Morton & Eden 68, 10-11 June 2014, lot 568.

Astarte VIII, 11 October 2001, lot 27.

References:

Hill 1930 (Corpus), no. 887

Börner 1997, no. 345

Vannel and Toderi 2003, no. 1346

cf. Pollard 2007 (NGA), no. 277

Scher 2019, no. 88

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