Aurelio Mistruzzi (Villaorba 1880 – Rome 1960) was an Italian sculptor and medallist, widely regarded as one of the most prominent representatives of twentieth-century medal art.

 

Mistruzzi was born in Villaorba (Udine) in the North-East of Italy where he also went to the liceo classico. In 1903, he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice under the architect Vincenzo Rinaldo (1867 – 1927), before he moved to the Milano to continue his studies at the Accademia di Brera. Mistruzzi subsequently moved to Rome in 1908 and remained there for the majority of his career.

In 1909, Mistrzzi began studying at the recently constituted Scuola dell’Arte della Medaglia. His earlier work mostly focused on busts and monumental sculptures; however, during the 1910s, he gradually transitioned his focus towards designing medals. In 1919, he participated in a competition to design the annual papal medal. Although Giusppe Romagnoli won the competition, the following year Mistruzzi was commissioned to create a portrait medal for Pope Benedictus XV. From that point onwards, he frequently designed medals for the papacy, including the annual papal medals. In 1932, he became the engraver of the Holy See ad perpetuum. His papal coins comprise most of his total medal production, encompassing over a hundred unique designs.

 

After the First World War, Mistruzzi designed monuments as well as medals to commemorate the fallen soldiers. Some of these designs were reused during the ventennio. For instance, his design of a 100 lire coin dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel III, dating to 1918, was not minted until 1925. For this purpose, a bundle of fasces was incorporated into the original design.

 

During the ventennio, Mistruzzi crafted several medals for the regime, often featuring Latin phrases, including both quotations and new compositions. A selection of them has been included in FLT. Sketches preserved in the Mistruzzi family archive show the artist playing with different Latin phrases for several of his medals. It seems that he personally selected and composed most of the Latin phrases.

Mistruzzi’s political convictions are elusive, but his loyalty to the Catholic Church clearly outweighed his loyalty to the Fascist regime. Shortly after Mussolini’s fall, Mistruzzi produced at least two medals denouncing Fascism, portraying it as a mockery of freedom (ludibrium libertatis) and presenting the National Fascist Party as National Socialism’s lapdog. Mistruzzi also showed resistance towards the National Socialist rule that followed Mussolini’s downfall. Between 1943 and 1945, his family harboured multiple Jewish Italians, and he produced medals in celebration of the allied liberation of Rome in 1944. Alongside creating at least two medals in honour of the defeat of National Socialism, Mistruzzi also designed a medal commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. This medal shows the menorah (a seven-branched candelabrum) together with the Latin text Numquam extinguetur (‘It will never be extinguished’).

 

Mistruzzi continued designing medals after the war, primarily for the use of the papacy. He was also commissioned to produce monuments both in the US and in South America. His use of Latin remained a standard feature of his works.

 

Bibliography

aes. (unidentified). «Medaglisti italiani moderni: Aurelio Mistruzzi». Rivista italiana di numismatica e scienze affini 1, nr. 1 (1935): 8–13.

 

Alfieri, Concettina, Giuseppe Bergamini, og Dania Nobile, red. Aurelio Mistruzzi: Studis e medaiis tal lassit de Provincie di Udin / Bozzetti e medaglie nel lascito della Provincia di Udine. Udine, 2013.

 

Arte, Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia ed. Il lascito Aurelio Mistruzzi della Provincia di Udine. Arti Grafiche Friulane, 1992.

 

Imbellone, Alessandra. Aurelio Mistruzzi: una vita per l’arte. Rome: Palombi, 2011.

 

Montenero, Giulio. Aurelio Mistruzzi 1880-1960. Friuli: Arti Grafiche Friulane, 1974.

 

Erlend Mykebust