Quattrino - Francis II dog, reliquary

Francis II Gonzaga ruled Mantua through a period of constant military entanglement — he commanded the League of Venice forces at Fornovo in 1495, a battle so chaotic that both sides claimed victory while Charles VIII's French army simply marched home intact. The quattrino bearing his reliquary type belongs to a devotional coinage tradition the Gonzaga cultivated carefully, tying dynastic legitimacy to sacred imagery at a time when Mantua's political position depended on appearing indispensable to whichever Italian power needed a condottiere.

MIR 435 is among the more elusive of his copper issues. Francis died in 1519, the same year his court painter Mantegna's estate was still being settled.