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Cesati, Alessandro [il Grechetto; il Greco]
(b Cyprus; fl 1538–64). Italian medallist and gem-, cameo- and die-engraver. His father was Milanese and his mother Cypriot. At an early age he moved to Rome, where he was introduced by Annibale Caro into pontifical circles dominated by the Farnese family. As a result he was appointed Incisore e Maestro delle Stampe at the papal mint, where he is documented in 1554 as having worked with Gian Federico Bonzagna, whose dies are difficult to distinguish from Cesati’s. He remained at the mint until 1561 under Paul III and his successors, Julius III, Paul IV and Pius IV. Cesati continued to receive commissions from other members of the Farnese family. His most famous medals include one of Pier Luigi Farnese, 1st Duke of Parma (c. 1546), one of Alessandro Farnese as Cardinal with Apollo Shooting at Python on the reverse (Florence, Bargello) and one of him when he became Paul III, with the reverse, so highly praised by Michelangelo (Vasari, Vite, 1568), depicting The High Priest of Jerusalem Receiving Homage from Alexander the Great (1547; Florence, Bargello). In 1550 Cesati contributed a jubilee medal for Julius III, known only from silver proofs (Florence, Bargello). Other medals include a series of classicizing heads of Priam, Dido, Alexander the Great and Augustus (see Parkes Weber). From 1557 to 1559 he also worked for Ottavio Farnese at the reopened mint in Parma. After his departure from the papal mint, Cesati was summoned to Piedmont by Marguerite of France, the consort of Emanuel-Philibert of Savoy, for whom he made a medal with their portraits on obverse and reverse. The following year he completed a medal for Marguerite with a figure of Minerva on the reverse. Cesati’s engraved gems include a portrait of Henry II of France (St Petersburg, Hermitage) in carnelian and a portrait of Phocion (London, BM). A cameo Head of Augustus (London, V&A) has been attributed to him. He returned to Cyprus after 1564.
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