ITALY - GIOVANNI BENTIVOGLIO 1443-1506 - Lot 491

ITALY - GIOVANNI BENTIVOGLIO 1443-1506 Bronze medal with undated armed rider. (119.80 g; Ø 76 mm) Engraver: Bartolomeo Sperandio Savelli 1431-1504 called Sperandio of Mantua. Late casting. Retouched fields. Brown-green patina. T.B. Giovanni II Bentivoglio or Jean II Bentivoglio, (February 12, 1443 - February 15, 1508), condottiere and heir to the Bentivoglio family, he became prince of Bologna, which he ruled for over 40 years (1462-1506). Giovanni was the son of Annibal de Bentivoglio and Donnina Visconti, and therefore the nephew of Philippe Marie Visconti. He was knighted at the age of 9. On the death of his uncle Sante, to keep up appearances in defense of republican freedoms, he accepted the post of gonfalonier of justice. Pope Paul II appointed him head of the Senate for life, with the right to two votes in elections, as well as pontifical vicar of the city and its contado. He became lord of the city in his twenties.