bavarikon4URenaissance Medals
At the end of the fourteenth century, during the early Renaissance, a period of recollection and rediscovery of antiquity started in Italy. Antiquities became the model and ideal of Italian art of the late Middle Ages. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these developments were also influential in the German-speaking world.
The art of the Renaissance also had an impact on medals. Therefore, the earliest Renaissance medals were copies or new creations based on ancient coins which became popular collectibles of the wealthy and educated classes. During this period, the first collectors of coins and medals with a scientific interest in their collectibles can also be ascertained. The first written works on ancient numismatics were also composed in this context.
Over time, portrait medals with the likenesses of living persons were created and the group of sitters rapidly expanded from the aristocracy to the citizenry. Thus, portraits of princes and citizens were also characteristic for the German medals. Together with ancient coins, they became sought-after collectibles. However, they actually also served for self-promotion or to honour the person depicted. Such medals were popular gifts for friends and followers. Only by the sixteenth century, medals with a particular theme were increasingly produced and aimed directly at specific groups of clients. As a result, the medal reached wider sections of the population.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of of the Staatliche Münzsammlung (State Coin Collection).