I'm very interested in artist designed coinage/money. Several important renaissance artists designed coins for popes and lords: Francesco Francia (for Giovanni II Bentivoglio, Julius II, and Leo X), Benvenuto Cellini (for Clement VII, Paul III, and Alessandro de Medici), Leone Leoni (for Paul III and Charles V), and Alessandro Cesati (for Julius III, and others). Later papal coinage was executed by the Hamerani family, who were known for the incredible artistry of their designs, most of which were signed. Albrecht Dürer is thought to have engraved the dies for a gulden of Nuremberg. Of course Augustus Saint-Gaudens is famous for designing the double eagle and the $10 gold liberty with indian headdress. The art nouveau master Alphonse Mucha designed some of the first Czech paper money. There are also many ancient coins, with beautiful dies that were signed by their celators. The definition of 'artist' can be a bit tricky. For the sake of this thread I think 'artist' should meet one of the following criteria: 1) A famous artist known for their non-numismatic work who also did work designing coins/money. Ex. Cellini, Mucha, Gaudens, Dürer 2) A pre-20th century artist who worked primarily as a die engraver, but whose work was so notable in that field to merit outside mention and documentation. Or a medalist who also worked as a die engraver. Ex. Cesati who is mentioned by Vasari in a hyperbole attributed to Michelangelo. 3) An ancient celator who made artistically engraved coins and signed their dies. I'd also be very interested if their have been any attempts to reconstruct the oeuvres of any ancient die cutters, the same way as has been done for ancient greek vase painters. Are there any other examples of artist-designed money that people know of? Please share both any examples you may have in your collections, or ones that you know of/covet. To start us off, here is a coin designed by Cellini for Clement VII that is in the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna.
Presuming you're including paper money in your query, I have many of the artists that designed French banknotes documented at http://www.frenchbanknotes.com/artists.php along with the French notes they designed. Some of the biggies that meet your criteria and may be familiar names would be Edmund Dulac, who is most famous for his book illustrations, Francois Flameng, who was famous for his WWI war art, Luc-Olivier Merson for his art deco, and Clement Serveau also for his book illustration. Dulac Flameng Merson Serveau
@Dave M Cool! I don't know any of those artists. Excited to peruse their work. And I posted here, cause any money intended for circulation qualifies.
Herman Mac Niel was a great artist/sculptor who designed the Standing Liberty Quarter. There are also many French artists who designed coinage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermon_Atkins_MacNeil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugène_André_Oudiné https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Roty https://translate.google.com/transl....wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dupuis&prev=search https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri-Auguste_Patey
I'd like to revive this thread with two scudi d'argento of Charles V, both with dies by the great sculptor Leone Leoni. The first is held by the Bavarian National Coin Collection: Scudo d'argento (100 soldi), n. d., dies by Leone Leoni. Ø 43 mm, 33,73 g. CNI V p.231 n.15 tav.14/4; Crippa 4, Dav.8304. Obv.: ·IMP·CAES·CAROLVS·V·AVG¤ - laureated bust, lion head at the shoulder. Rev.: ·TE·DEVM·LAV DAMVS· "We praise Thee, O Lord". Saint Augustine (kneeling) and Saint Ambrose (with crosier), flagellate between them and the Holy Spirit (pigeon) above. Exergue: the saints' names ·S·AVG·S·AMB (via https://www.coingallery.de/KarlV/Mailand_E.htm) The second is held by the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, and shows the battle of the giants on the reverse: https://medagliere.milanocastello.i...cudo-da-soldi-110-argento-di-carlo-v-dasburgo
I don't believe any ancient coins were designed by any known artists. The big ones only did paintings and sculpture. I do believe that ancient coin engraving was more of an artisan, rather than an artist profession.
@hotwheelsearl Like you, I am unaware of any of the famed ancient artists designing coins--although I do believe there are a few coin designs that are thought to have been inspired by ancient paintings... For instance the denarius of L. Plautius Placus with Winged Victory or Aurora on the reverse is thought to be based on a painting 4th century BC Greek artist Nikomachos of Thebes, which may have belonged to Placus. Here is a lovely example that was sold by Roma in 2013 (not my coin): However, I think the phenomenon of ancient celators signing their dies, such as the famed Kimon of Syracuse, demonstrates a remarkable self-awareness of artistic talent. It puts the celators at least on the level of vase painters such as Euphronios and Exekias who straddled the boundary between glorified craftsmen and "artist" as we know think of them. Here's a Dekadrachm signed on both sides by Kimon, sold by Leu in 2002 (also not my coin-- I wish!):
Here is another coin type that I recently learned about: The Teston of Henri II designed by the artist Marc Béchot. Courtesy https://www.moneymuseum.com/en/coins?&id=1106 Béchot was a medallist and coin engraver who was appointed to as the first General Engraver of Coins by Henri II. He was probably trained by an Italian gem engraver and medalist who is mentioned in Vasari: Matteo del Nassaro. I'm quite enchanted by the synthesis of Italian renaissance ideals (and coin design) that resulted in this very french coin.
Another fascinating item I came across recently: the $3 banknote featuring John James Audubon's first commercial illustration-- of a grouse! (photo from the Eric P Newman Education Society) The story of its rediscovery is pretty interesting. It was thought lost for years, because the notes were probably only printed as proofs. You can read a short version here from npr, or the full original article by Eric Newman and Robert Peck, here.
Ferdinand Hodler the seminal swiss painter, designed the 50 and 100 Franken notes in 1911, that remained in use through the 1940s. Here's the reverse of the 50 Franken note: (image: wikipedia) and the painting from the Musee d'Orsay that served as its model:
