Italian family of gem-engravers and medallists. Giuseppe Cerbara (b Rome, 15 July 1770; d Rome, 6 April 1856) was the son of Giovanni Battista Cerbara (b Rome, 1748; d Rome, 1811) and was one of the best-known gem-engravers and medallists working in Rome in the 18th century and the early 19th. His artistic achievements brought him many honours: in 1812 he was elected Fellow of the Accademia di S Luca, in 1815 Fellow of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna and in 1825 Fellow of the Royal Academy of Fine Art of Antwerp. In 1831 he was elected to the Congregazione dei Virtuosi del Pantheon and in 1834 to the Accademia Fiorentina di Belle Arti. From 1822 he held the post of Incisore Camerale to the papal mint with Giuseppe Girometti; the artists were responsible for producing a medal on alternate years. Appointed Incisore Particolare dei Sommi Pontefici by Leo XII (reg 1823–9), Giuseppe Cerbara also executed seals and coins and prepared dies for the zecca (mint) of Bologna. From 1823 he began the series of medals known as Della Lavanda (Rome, Mus. Cent. Ris.). Among his most significant medals are that commemorating the new Museo Chiaramonti (1822), that for Cardinal Ercole Consalvi (1824), those commemorating the visit of Leo XII to the Ospedale del S Spirito (1826), the visit of Gregory XVI to the Ospizio Apostolico (1831), the monetary reform (1835), the new Museo di S Giovanni in Laterano (1853) and the restoration of the Porta Pia (1854). A catalogue (Balbi de Caro) of his more important works (15 medals and 44 engraved gems), all in the Neo-classical style, is in the Accademia di S Luca, Rome.