Born in Milan, Giovanni Alvise Toscani (c. 1450 - 1478) was a jurisconsult, orator, and poet. Beginning his career in Milan under Duke Francesco Sforza, he went to Rome in 1468 and found favor under Pope Sixtus IV. Under the pope, he becaome consistorial advocate (about 1473) and auditor general (1477). It has been supposed that Toscani was a close friend of Lysippus, based on the six medals of him attributed to the artist. As referred to by the obverse inscription, Toscani was one of the twelve auditors (judges in the Curia) newly organized by the pope.

It is not known with certainty to what the reverse design and inscription refers. In 1474, Sixtus IV had recaptured papal territories near Norcia in Umbria and could return his focus to a crusade against the Turks. Toscani had written a poem, "In Turcos", and Pollard suggests that the reverse might allude to the renewed campaign for ships.