PASTI, Matteo de'
(b. ca. 1420, Verona, d. ca. 1468, Rimini)

Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (obverse)

1449-55
Bronze medal, diameter 8 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

The inscription running around the profile portrait reads: "SIGISMONDVS.PANDVLFVS.DE.MALATESTIS.S.RO.ECLESIE.C.GENERALIS".

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-1468), popularly known as the Wolf of Rimini, was a famous member of the Italian House of Malatesta and lord of Rimini, Fano, and Cesena from 1432. He was widely considered by his contemporaries as one of the most daring military leaders in Italy and commanded the Venetian forces in the 1465 campaign against the Ottoman Empire. He was also a poet and patron of the arts.

There are several versions of de Pasti's portrait medal of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.