Jacopo da Trezzo

Jacopo da Trezzo (c. 1515 or 1519 – 1589) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor of medals and jeweller, who after beginning his career in Milan moved to employment by the Spanish Habsburgs in 1554. He spent the rest of his career working for the Spanish court, beginning by visiting England in 1554–55 during the marriage of Philip II of Spain and Mary I of England, which lasted from 1554 to her death in 1558.

He was born Giacomo or Jacopo Nizzola (or Nizola), sometime between 1514 and 1519, in Trezzo sull'Adda, then a village some 30 kilometres (19 miles) northeast of Milan on the Adda River (now included in Milan's Metropolitan region). In Spain he became known as Jacometrezo. In Brussels in the 1550s he signed documents as "Jacobo" or "Jacomo da Trezo". Medal of Queen Mary I of England, 1554, one of two known examples in gold.

He is probably now best known for his eleven medals, probably produced between 1548 and 1578, in Italy, England and Spain.

Biography His birth date is uncertain; the earlier 1514–1515 date comes from a reference in a letter, much later, where he says he entered the service of Philip when he was 31. His father Gaspare was described as magister or "master", indicating some professional or social status. The family were living in Milan by 1531. He trained with a carver of engraved gems and hardstone objects in Milan. Jacopo may well have assisted with coin dies at the mint, but this is not documented.

Late in 1554, Jacopo sent Cardinal Granvelle in Brussels, in effect the Habsburg's foreign minister, the medal of Mary in silver, One of only two known examples in gold of Mary's medal sold for £130,250 at Christie's in 2000.

It was therefore after Mary's marriage medal was produced when on New Years Day 1555 Jacopo was appointed court sculptor (escultor) to Philip in London. In 1555 he followed Philip to Brussels, capital of the Spanish Netherlands, staying until at least 1559. By 1562 he was in Madrid, where Philip was now King of Spain.

In Madrid he made various hardstone carvings and cameos for the court, but these were generally not signed, leading to some uncertainty in attributions. He was used by the royal family to value and negotiate purchases of similar items, as well as antiquities. He also acted as a dealer, in 1584 selling Philip the Annunciation by Robert Campin now in the Prado, for El Escorial. He worked for other courts as well; works for the Medici, the court at Parma, and the Austrian Habsburgs are recorded. His workshop was visited by the royal family and court.

With Pompeo Leoni and another artist he executed the tomb monument for Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d 1573), Philip II's sister, in the church of the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, which she had founded in her parents' palace in 1559. To a design by the architect Juan de Herrera he made the tabernacle for the main altar in the church of the monastery of El Escorial (1586), in gilt-bronze, rock crystal and coloured hardstone.

Medals Early medals made in Italy included those of the wife, Isabella di Capua, and daughter Ippolita (1535–1563) of Ferrante Gonzaga, then Governor of the Duchy of Milan, made in about 1552. Both are signed at the bottom of the portrait ("IAC.TREZZO" on the former and "IAC TREZ" on the latter). His medal of Mary of Hungary, sister of Charles V, dates from c. 1549–51, and that of her niece Princess Joanna of Portugal, Philip II's sister, from 1554. Gianello della Torre, an engineer and clock-maker from Cremona, was another Italian who worked for the court in Spain, and his medal appears to date from Jacopo's first years in Spain. and the architect Juan de Herrera (1578), the Grand Inquisitor Diego de Espinosa (1568), and the Austrian ambassador Hans von Khevenhüller (1577), a neighbour in Madrid,

Portraits

An unusually intimate portrait by Anthonis Mor, probably painted in Brussels in 1555–59, was sold by Sotheby's in London, on 4 December 2019 for £1.93 million. Another portrait is known to have belonged to Philip but is now lost; it showed "the celebrated sculptor beside the tabernacle he executed for the high altar of the basilica of San Lorenzo at the Escorial". Another, also lost, is recorded as by Bernardino Campi of Cremona, presumably painted before he left Italy. A third, showing a much older man, is attributed to the Spanish court painter Alonso Sánchez Coello, perhaps around 1580.

In 1554 she sent her grandson in Madrid, Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, three slaves. By 1564 two of these, Diego de San Pedro and Juan Carlos, were being trained in Jacopo da Trezzo's workshop, and he was later paid for their food and clothes by Carlos' household.

Legacy The is a street in central Madrid named after him, with a pictorial street sign based on the Mor portrait, and there is a plaque on the Casa Matesanz, Gran Via 27, Madrid, recording the site of the house he lived in.