Object Description
13 ISABELLA SESSO
Obv. Bust to left, hair swathed in drapery. Around, . ISABELLA . SESSA . MICHAEL . VENETA
Rev. Fortune seated to left, semi-nude, holds out a bridle in left hand and three nails in right. Her right foot rests on a skull; behind her a dry tree and a helmet with a sphinx crest. Around, EK ?A?AIMOI MHNIZ OMENH; in exergue, the artist's mark, made from the letters ZUAN
Bronze, old aftercast, 44 mm. Hole at top
The reverse seems to refer to Isabella's distresses resulting from her support as governess of Vicenza of the Imperialists against Venice in 1511. The Venetians confiscated her property and Maximilian did not reward her.
Bibl: Corpus, no. 597; Arm. i, p. 127,8; Kress, no. 182; Supino, no. 238; Brescia i, p. 26, no. 165; Morsolin, "Isabella Sesso," Rivista Italiana di Numismatica 3 (1890), pp. 250-58 (for the career of Isabella); Tervarent, col. 267ii (bridle as symbol of Fortune or Occasion—this reverse called Fortune), col. 278 (Death with a bridle).