Featured French Medal - Maria Magdalena of Austria by Guillaume Dupré

Maria Magdalena of Austria

Work of Guillaume Dupré, 1613


Lead, 97.2 mm Ø, 77.3 g

Obverse: Bust of Maria Magdalena facing left, with elaborate hairstyle, wearing open ruff, intricate lace collar, and jewels. Around, MAR · MAGDALENÆ · ARCH · AVSTR · MAG · D · ETR (Maria Magdalena, Archduchess of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany). Under truncation, GDP 1613 .

Maria Magdalena of Austria (1589-1631) was the youngest daughter of Karl II, Archduke of Inner Austria, and his wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. She married Cosimo II de' Medici (1590-1621) in 1608, and together they would have eight children. Cosimo II succeeded his father to become Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1609 until his passing. His mother, Christina of Lorraine, and Maria Magdalena would then act as regents for the new grand duke, the ten-year-old Ferdinando II. Pollard notes that Maria Magdalena was portrayed in similar court dress and with the same heavy necklace in an anonymous painting from her time as a widow. This medal was created during Dupré's visit to Florence in 1613, where he also made large uniface portrait medals of Cosimo II de' Medici, Christina of Lorraine, and Cosimo's brother Francesco.

Provenance: Ex Ernst Otto Horn collection

References: cf. Jones 1988, no. 44 (obverse); Pollard 2007, no. 643



This piece nicely complements the medal below of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini which was already in my collection, created by Dupré the previous year during his trip through Italy:

Cardinal Maffeo Barberini

Work of Guillaume Dupré, 1612


Bronze, 92 mm Ø, 44.7 g

Obverse: Bust of Maffeo Barberini facing right, wearing a biretta and hooded cassock. Within two inscribed circles, MAPH · S · R · E · P · CAR · BARBERIN · SIG · IVST · PRÆ · BONO · LEG (Maffeo, Priest of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Barberini, Chancellor and Legate of Bologna). Beneath the truncation, G DVPRE · F 1612 .

Maffeo Barberini was born in April of 1568 in Florence, but was raised by his uncle in Rome after his father's death. He was educated by the Jesuits and studied law at the University of Pisa. In 1601, Pope Clement VIII appointed him as papal legate to the court of Henry IV in France in order to present congratulations on the birth of the dauphin. He was appointed as Archbishop of Nazareth in 1604 and was sent as nuncio to Paris. Pope Paul V elevated him to the cardinalate on September 11, 1606. He was further appointed as papal legate to Bologna in August of 1611. This portrait medal was executed while Dupré was traveling through Italy, with Bologna being on the path of Dupré's journey from Venice to Florence. On August 6, 1623, Barberini was elected pope and took the name of Urban VIII.

References: cf. Johnson 1990, no. 133 (reverse); Jones 1988, no. 40

 

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I must admit that I've not seen many lead medals. That one appears to have quite attractive surfaces given its composition. The bronze is similarly appealing. Dupré really brought life to the portraits. I can almost feel the fabric of Barberini's clothing!

Nice medals and a great writeup as always. Thanks for sharing these Iosephus.

 

Fantastic! Maria certainly had a heck of an under bite. Reminds one of "Hogmouth" Leopold! Sure would like to see the reverses as well!

 

Beautiful medals and I enjoyed your write ups as well!

 

The medals are uniface (the "reverses" are just the obverse design incuse), so I didn't photograph the backs.

 

The medals of the last few centuries are sometimes amazingly beautiful - I really do not understand why there is not more of a market for these. Much of engraving, as on this piece, are gorgeous. Maybe there needs to be a price guide?

 

There are a large number of references for medals, and many are surprisingly complete. However, there are basically no price guides, and for the period I collect (15th-18th century), conditions of manufacture (cast quality, die quality, contemporary vs. later, aftercasts, etc.) make it much more difficult to price than simple grades that modern coins get. Also, many medals appear so infrequently that a price guide probably wouldn't be very useful.

As an example of some of the references that are available, you can see a list of a good portion of my library here:
http://www.virtuscollection.com/references/bibliography

 

Funny that, I thought Hogmouth as well as soon as I saw it! Amazing piece of work though.

 

Absolutely stunning workmanship and artistry.