BELLI, Valerio. — Engraver and medallist, born in 1468 in Vicenza (for which he was called Valerio Vicentino), died there in 1546 after having long resided in Rome and Venice.
His stay in Rome had a great influence on him, as it allowed him to free himself from the 15th-century taste for perspective (rock-crystal cross in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) and to approach instead a mannered Renaissance decorative style. In addition to various works of engraving in crystal and hard stones, derived from contemporary artists and now lost, as well as numerous struck medals, from 1525 to 1532 he worked on a small silver casket with crystal engravings, commissioned from him by Clement VII, which represents his masterpiece for its fine and careful execution and for the skilful movement of masses (Florence, Palazzo Pitti).