1964
Aglaya Georgiyevna Knorre born 1928
USSR
Stamped copper
Aglaya Knorre, a Muscovite sculptress and medal engraver, was commissioned by the USSR Ministry of Culture to make the Hermitage jubilee medal.
Showing posts with label Medals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medals. Show all posts
Mar 4, 2008
Medal commemorating the 200th anniversary of the State Hermitage
Aglaya Georgiyevna Knorre born 1928
USSR
Stamped copper
Aglaya Knorre, a Muscovite sculptress and medal engraver, was commissioned by the USSR Ministry of Culture to make the Hermitage jubilee medal.
Medal commemorating the Battle of Waterloo, 1815
1849
Benedetto Pistrucci1784-1855
England
Copper electrotype. Diameter 132 mm
Benedetto Pistrucci, a British medallist of Italian extraction, spent some thirty years making medals in commemoration of the victories of Europe's combined forces over Napoleon. Gold examples were to be presented to the four allied monarchs and two silver examples to Field Marshal Blucher and the Duke of Wellington. Due to his many other commissions Pistrucci was only able to finish engraving the dies in 1849, by which time all those for whom the medal was intended, with the exception of Wellington, had already died. In the center of the obverse are portraits of King George IV of England, Emperor Franz I of Austria, and King Friederich Wilhelm of Prussia. Apollo's chariot over the portraits and the fleeing chariot of Night below them herald the victory of the forces of Good. To the right of Apollo are his companions, the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, and the god of the light wind, Zephyrus; to the left is the constellation of Gemini indicating the month of June when the battle took place. To the left and right of the central portraits are the figures of Justice and Might, and lower down, on both sides of the chariot of Night, are the goddesses of destiny, the Fates, and of vengeance, the Furies. The two horsemen accompanying Nike, the winged goddess of victory, in the center of the reverse represent Blucher and Wellington. Over them is the chariot of Zeus the Thunderer, and below are twelve serpent-legged figures of titans personifying Europe's twelve-year struggle against Napoleon. The Waterloo medal is considered one of the rarest and most important pieces in the history of medallic art.
Medal commemorating the Russian victory at the Battle of Poltava
1709
Philipp Heinrich Muller 1654-1719
Germany
Stamped silver. Diameter 66 mm
The medal is from a series commemorating Russia's victory against Sweden in the Great Northern War. The dies were made in Augsburg and then brought to the Moscow Mint, where several sets of the series were struck in gold and silver. The imposing compositions are designed in the same spirit as Baroque sculpture, and complemented on both sides by the Italian inscriptions: [trans.] We shall be envied for this glory; Poltava is to be glorified for the wonderful victory, all the Swedish army is destroyed. And the edge inscription on the medal reads: This brilliant triumph without doubt brings Peter a victor's laurels.
Medal of Lodovico Gonzaga
Circa 1447
Pisanello (Antonio di Pucco Pisano) circa 1395-1455
Italy
Cast bronze. Diameter 101 mm
Pisanello, the 15th-century Italian painter and sculptor, made the medal into a historical artwork. The twenty four or so medals he produced are still considered unsurpassed masterpieces of metal engraving. Lodovico Gonzaga, second Duke of Mantua, was depicted on the medal in around 1447-1448, when he was a captain-general of the Florentine army. The depiction of Lodovico as an armoured horseman on the reverse matches the monumental character of the portrait on the obverse. Latin inscriptions reproduce the sitter's name and title and the engraver's signature: OPUS PISANI PICTORIS (‘Work of Pisano the painter').
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