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Trezzo, Jacopo (Nizolla) da, I
(b Milan, 1515–19; d Madrid, 23 Sept 1589). Italian medallist, sculptor, gem-engraver and jeweller. Nothing is known of his background and early life. His family apparently came from Trezzo-sull Adda but were living in Milan at the time of his birth. By 1550 he had achieved a level of fame that deserved mention in the first edition of Vasari’s Vite. His activities in Milan, in which city he lived until 1555, included gem-engraving and the fabrication of objects in precious and semi-precious stones for Cosimo I, Duke of Florence. Several letters in archives in Florence, dated 1552, 1572 and 1575, describe this work and the difficulties Trezzo experienced in receiving payment. Between 1548 and 1578 Jacopo produced eleven medals, including variants, eight of which are signed. The first of these is the medal of the Cremonese engineer Gianello delle Torre, of which one example (Florence, Bargello) bears the date 1548. Although not signed, it has been attributed both to Trezzo and to Leone Leoni. Stylistic evidence strongly favours Trezzo as the author of the medal: the portrait is forceful, and the details of hair, beard and drapery are delicately modelled without being fussy. The reverse, showing the Fountain of the Sciences, is a masterpiece of relief sculpture with expressive movement, strong modelling, subtle variations in relief and a precise but lively depiction of faces, water, and drapery. While in Milan, Trezzo produced two signed medals (both London, V&A), doubtless commissioned by the Governor of Milan, Ferrante Gonzaga. One was of Gonzaga’s wife, Isabella de Capua, Princess of Molfetta (d 1559), and the other of their daughter, Ippolita Gonzaga (1535–63), dated by the age of the subject to 1552. The obverse of the latter was copied from a medal made a year earlier by Leoni with some changes in the drapery and jewellery and with a perceptible loss of refinement in the portrait. The reverse, however, showing Aurora in a chariot riding across the heavens, is handled with considerable skill in its modelling and suggestion of space. The medal of Isabella Capua recalls the placid strength of the Gianello delle Torre medal, as well as having similar drapery.
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