Portrait medals, which unite a likeness, text (usually name and motto), and personal emblem, can play an important role in identifying distinguished individuals. This medal and its inscription reveal the subject of Jan Gossaert’s corresponding painting. Although it can be challenging to directly compare works of such different mediums, the men’s facial features, hairstyles, and beards appear strikingly similar. Moreover, in both images the sitter wears the scallop-shell pendant of the Order of Santiago, of which Los Cobos was comendador mayor (major commander).
Christoph Weiditz the Elder (ca. 1500–1559)
Portrait Medal of Francisco de los Cobos (obverse), 1531
Lead
Inscribed around the circumference, in Latin: To Francisco de los Cobos, great chancellor of the imperial army, privy councilor of Charles the fifth, in the year 1531
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Samuel H. Kress Collection; 1957.14.1183.a
Christoph Weiditz the Elder (ca. 1500–1559)
Portrait Medal of Francisco de los Cobos, with a Man Riding toward a Cliff, Carrying a Scroll (reverse), 1531
Lead
Inscribed on the scroll, in Latin: Fate will find a way
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Samuel H. Kress Collection; 1957.14.1183.b
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington