Collection record · Small worlds
Medal of Anne of Austria (obverse) and (reverse)
The collection record classifies this work as sculpture. It is dated 1660. Recorded culture or place: France.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Medal of Anne of Austria (obverse) and (reverse)
- Date
- 1660
- Culture / origin
- France
- Materials and technique
- bronze
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 6 cm (2 3/8 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Jean Warin (French, 1604–1672)
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1987.195
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Jean Warin was the foremost medalist in 17th-century France. As the chief designer of coins, his relationship with King Louis XIII was exceptionally close; he convinced the king that commemorative medals were the most important artistic medium for propaganda. Warin revolutionized the production of medals by introducing the raised edge, allowing greater ease in striking medals. This change fueled the shift from casting medals to the more recently invented process of striking, or pressing medals from a die. This work is one of many he composed of Queen Anne of Austria (1601–1666). Although she was born in Spain as the Infanta, or princess, of Spain and Portugal, her title "of Austria" refers to her Habsburg heritage as well as her title of Archduchess of Austria. The reverse depicts a blooming lily, a symbol of France, and is inscribed "it glories in its divine nourishment," referring to her son, the adolescent King Louis XIV.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · John L. Severance Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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