Resumen de "A misser Piero Mateo Jordano amico suo": una lettera autografa del Camelio
Vittore Gambello, known as Camelio, (Venice, c. 1455-1537) was an engraver of monetary molds for the Mint of Venice, as well as a sculptor working in stone and bronze. The discovery of a letter signed by Camelio addressed to Pier Matteo Giordani from Pesaro, a member of the Della Rovere entourage links the sculptor to the world of fake antiques , in the field of numismatics, which was particularly common in northern Italy. An analysis of the sculptor’s letter seal, which is still legible, brought to light a correlation with a Roman coin depicting Marco Vipsiano Agrippa. The seal was probably created from a carving and made from scratch by the same sculptor, rather from a Roman coin mold. This hypothesis is supported by handwritten documentes preserved in the State Archives of Venice. The letter also contains evidence of a coin, an “Antonia opra nova” traceable to a Roman dupondius representing Antonia Augusta, repeatedly reproduced during the Reinassance and attributed to Cavino’s Paduan workshop. This documentary connection allows a possible attribution to Camelio, as part of coeval Paduan production. An important coin gathered from the document is that the artist openly declared the object’s new workmanship, thus clarifying some arguments concerning the world of “fake antiques” that were still outstanding.
