Any old coin enthusiasts here? I have a question about the Italian Scudi.

[CTyankee]

Does anybody know what 125 Scudi was worth in the mid 16th Century Italy? I'm trying to assess what an altarpiece by Veronese was paid for a work he painted for a Confraternity in Pesaro.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. NOT an old coin enthusiat.

A Google user.

https://www.wordnik.com/words/scudo

Once scudi, says this post, is worth about 96 cents. But inflation, inflation. probably bought a nice dinner, 3 days' rent, and a bottle of wine.

[CTyankee]

2. The work is "The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine." It was painted in 1586 by Veronese

[bucolic_frolic]

3. It was probably a good investment! lol /nt

[CTyankee]

4. Yep. Go to Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia to see it...

I'm not a big fan of Venice but I'd love to go back to the Gallerie to see the art again.

[Donkees]

5. ''At the time, Veronese was one of the most successful and highest paid painters in Venice ...

... creating magnificent images for the European aristocracy.''
https://www.frick.org/press/veronese_murano_two_venetian_renaissance_masterpieces_restored

Between 1574 and 1577 major fires and plagues afflicted Venice (the plague claiming Titian in 1576) and Veronese began investing his substantial wealth in land and property.

For at least a decade after his passing Veronese's family used sketches and drawings to complete more works from the studio signed under the name "Heirs of Paolo" while prints of Veronese's work were in high demand even during his own lifetime; something highly unusual for a living artist at that time.

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/veronese-paolo/

[CTyankee]

6. Thanks! Very helpful information!

[Donkees]

7. Size of painting also mattered in artist/patron contract

The data show that, ceteris paribus, one more figure in the painting resulted in an increase of the price of 3% in Venice and up to 16 % in the rest of Italy (notoriously, colour was more important in Venice and figure drawings in Florence and Rome).

Ceteris paribus, each additional square metre increases the price of the average painting by 9%. Other relevant explanatory variables include the placement of religious paintings in the churches (demand was more rigid for altarpieces, commanding higher prices, and more elastic for paintings on the nave, which could be substituted with different decorations), or the institutional nature of the commissioner (the Ducal Palace in Venice or St Peters in Rome wanted and obtained more quality by paying artists a little more than the ordinary market – a sort of efficiency wage mechanism).

... 1 Prices were in silver coins in each town and their value was approximately equal. In the empirical analysis all the prices were normalized for the cost of living, expressed through the price of wheat.

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/titian-veronese-caravaggio-and-their-rivals-evidence-competition-market-altarpieces

[CTyankee]

8. Yes, I'm very familiar with the colore/disegno difference in Venice and Florence and have written about it.

I am less familiar with coinage and that is why information such as what you have given me is so important. I thank you so much, very good info!

[DFW]

9. In the mid 16th century, 125 scudi was an absolute fortune

Here you have a scudo di oro from Reggio Emilia, year 1552 (front and back sides).



One of these could buy you food for months, probably a horse, and ten of them could probably have bought you a modest residence. A sum of 125 of these things was considered quite a stash in those days.

[CTyankee]

10. I consider his best work to be "Wedding at Cana." Evidently, the Louvre has a high opinion of that painting also, based

on its placement in its revered museum space....