Elisabetta Querini, died 1559, Daughter of Francesco Querini of Venice, Wife of Lorenzo Masolo, Widowed 1556 [obverse] c. 16th century

This bronze medal portraying Elisabetta Querini was cast in Venice by Danese Cattaneo, sometime around 1559, the year of her death. Commemorative medals like this one played an important social role in Renaissance Italy. They served to immortalize individuals, particularly those from noble or patrician families like the Querini. The image itself is carefully crafted. The inscription around Elisabetta’s head provides biographical information, emphasizing her lineage and marital status—key markers of identity for women of her time. The portrait presents her in profile, a classical reference intended to convey nobility and virtue. In a society governed by strict social hierarchies, medals like these reinforced the status of the elite. Artists like Cattaneo were, in effect, working for these powerful families and institutions. Understanding the social function of art like this requires historians to look beyond aesthetics, exploring the economic and political forces that shaped artistic production. Family archives, civic records, and studies of patronage can all shed light on these contexts.