Which coins were used in the Renaissance by Michaelangelo & DaVinci?

Hey guys, I’m not very knowledgeable about early modern coinage so I was hoping someone could help me out.

What gold & silver coinage would have been in the pockets (not sure if they had pockets if not then maybe coin purses?) of men like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, etc., during the Renaissance period?

If they are different from each other that’s okay too. I’d just love a coin from that time & place but I’m not sure what I’m looking for.

Thanks!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

It's a little late, but here's a Venice 1 Sesino from 1595-1605


I did a search for Italian States 1450-1575 which you could look over if you like.

 

Thanks!

Do you happen to know if that’s the gold or silver one?

 

Mine? It's billon (debased silver). I got it as part of a big mixed lot of Italian States coppers for about 70 cents each. Renaissance gold and silver are outside my usual price range. I mostly buy these for the practice learning to ID them. Pre-1600 is pretty tough for me as my Krause guides end at 1601.

Michelangelo died in 1564, so mine is at least 31 years too late.

 

My guess would be these Venetian Grosso. Although these were minted nearly 200 years earlier, I'm sure they would've been in circulation during the Renaissance.

 

Ahh ok I thought maybe it was like florins or ducats or something like that.

Wow I’m way off.

 

I thought in those days they used high purity silver & gold?

I saw this gold coin from Spain called an “Excelente” that was used during Columbus’s time and it looked like high purity gold.



I guess I figured they used something similar in Venice.

 

Those Venetian Grosso coins are 99% pure silver!

 

No, you are not.

Examples would be that Michelangelo was paid 3,000 Ducats for painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He was also paid 10,000 Ducats for the tomb of Pope Julius II, which was an astounding amount of money, BTW.

Da Vinci was generally paid in Ducats and Florins.

This is very well documented in Vatican Records.

Hope this helps, and helps restore your confidence in your gut instinct.

 

Michelangelo, born March 6, 1475, Caprese, Republic of Florence —died February 18, 1564, Rome, Papal States

Can't show you any of those ducats he earned from the Pope but here are a couple of more modest Papal silver coins he may have used to buy a glass of wine with his friends

Papal States Sede Vacante Giulio n.d. (1521-22)





Papal States CLEMENT VII 1/2 Giulio (Grosso) n.d. (1523-34)

Clement VII was a member of the Medici family and the coin has the 6-balls Medici arms on the obverse. Michelangelo had a complicated relationship with the Medici family, who were for most of his lifetime the effective rulers of his home city of Florence. Following his initial work for Lorenzo de' Medici, Michelangelo's interactions with the family continued for decades including the Medici papacies of Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII. Sophisticated, handsome, and intelligent, Pope Clement VII became one of Michelangelo's most important patrons – despite Vatican coffers running low during his papacy, due to the extravagances of previous popes and a string of international misfortunes. The Pope had plans to make the Laurentian Library public and in doing so, Clement proposed creating a new building. Michelangelo was contracted and produced an amazing design but it was not carried out until he moved to Rome in 1525. In this project, Michelangelo produced new styles such as pilasters tapering thinner at the bottom, and a staircase with contrasting rectangular and curving forms. Michelangelo worked on these two projects off and on for the next thirteen years. Ultimately, it was finished after his death. Mere days before his own death, Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. (Wikipedia)

 

Leonardo da Vinci, born on 15 April 1452 in, or close to, the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, near Florence; died on 2 May 1519 in Amboise, France.

Leonardo worked in Milan c. 1482–1499 and 1508-13. During this time he might have used these coins:

Milan LUDOVICO MARIA SFORZA, IL MORO (called the Moor because of his dark complexion), Regent for his nephew Giovanni Galeazzo Maria ( who died in suspicious circumstances in 1494, allowing Ludovico to become duke in his own right) Grosso of 3 Soldi n.d. (1481-94)







Milan LUDOVICO MARIA SFORZA, IL MORO, Regent for Giovanni Galeazzo Maria Testone n.d. (1481-94)





In 1516, Leonardo entered the service of François I, King of France, who had recaptured Milan in 1515. François gave him the use of the manor house Clos Lucé, near the king's residence at the royal Château d'Amboise and they became good friends. During his time in France he might have used the following coin:

France FRANÇOIS I Teston n.d. (1515-40) Rouen mint

 

Yeah I get your point but I was kind of asking about the bigger value coins not so much small change.

Id like to get a silver or gold coin from those times.

 

Hi @Gam3rBlake,

I collect mainly Italian Renaissance coins, so maybe I can be of some help to you.

Leonardo and Michelangelo both started their careers in Florence, with Michelangelo later working in Rome, and Leonardo working in Milan and France. If you want coins they may have used then I would look for issues from those cities from roughly the 1450s-1550s. You could of course look more specifically based on the exact years when/where they were active. http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/ is a catalog of Italian coinage and a good resource.

One of my favorite things about Renaissance coins is that there were major artists who actually engraved coin dies and struck coins—not Leonardo and Michelangelo, but important and wonderful artists nonetheless. Francesco Francia was the founder of the Bolognese Renaissance School of painting and worked there for decades as the master of the mint. Benvenuto Cellini was on of the great sculptors of the Renaissance, even rivaling Michelangelo. I own five coins of his, which he struck for Popes Clement VII, Paul and the Duke of Florence Alessandro de Medici. Leone Leoni was a rival, in turn, of Cellini, and was championed by Michelangelo. He even struck a medal commemorating Michelangelo’s 88th birthday. I own three coins from dies engraved by him. A nice thread for getting a sense of some Renaissance coinage is here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-renaissance-coins.317981/

There are several coins that have specific artistic ties to Leonardo:

First, the Testone col Cavaliere of Ercole d’Este struck between 1502-4. The anepigraphic reverse features a nude horseman which is thought to be based on the famous lost/never completed equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza. The terracotta model completed by Leonardo is supposed to have been brought to Ferrara.


(not my coin)

Leonardo was employed at the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan from 1482-99. The classic portrait of the duke as regent and as ruler, as seen on his testoni, was traditionally attributed to a design by Leonardo. There is no direct evidence for this, but as court painter it’s not impossible he was asked to sketch a portrait for the die engraver to make use of. In any event the coin is linked to a very specific moment of the Renaissance in Milan that is closely associated with Leonardo.


(my coin)


The third is the grosso da 4 soldi of Ludovico’s brother and predecessor Galeazzo Maria Sforza. The coin was likely designed by Ambrogio di Predis, who was an important follower and associate of Leonardo’s who worked for the mint of Milan.


(not my coin)

 

Thank you very much! ^_^

I will definitely check it out.

The weird thing is I don’t plan on collecting a bunch of them or anything. Just one or two from that period.

I like to collect coins from all across history that circulated during time periods I am interested in.

Everything from 5th century BC Athens to the Roman Republic and Empire to colonial America and all the way up to WW2.

 

Given that neither artist had hardly any connections to Venice (besides respectively running away there for short stints because of political upheaval around 1499/1500), I think a much more appropriate archetypal coin would be the Florin or Fiorino, which was struck with minimal design modifications from 1252-1533.

These three series, cover the years 1474-1533-- roughly the period of the two artists overlapping associations with the city.

https://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/moneta/W-FIREP/91
https://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/moneta/W-FIREP/92
https://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/moneta/W-FIREP/93


Here is one from 1476-- a year they were both in Florence (though as an infant Michelangelo was probably not handling much money)

 

Oh yeah i definitely want one like that!

Any idea where I could find one?

 

Oh man, I would have loved to have been nearby when that payday was handed over. In reality I guess it was paid in installments but thinking of watching a huge sack of Ducats being dropped on the table and hearing "here you go Michael, 3000 as promised"! Bit of fantasy going on in my mind.