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Commemorative and portrait medals gained popularity during the Renaissance and medal making spread out beyond the Italian peninsula. In the Netherlands, the period of intense economic change and new prosperity of the 17th century coincided with a new interest in medals as a portable, reproducible art form suitable for depicting a wide range of subjects. Some medals depict important people, like rulers, elected officials, naval and military heroes; some show events, such as significant battles, treaties signed, marriages; and others show buildings or institutions that spoke of the United Provinces’ prosperity and commerce, like the town hall and the stock exchange in Amsterdam. Some medals commemorated life and death, such as this one which has a scull and other symbols for death on the reverse (or secondary side).
View: Side A
Geertruyd van Campe, Death
Pieter van Abeele (Dutch, 1608–1684)
Dutch
1701
Medium/Technique
Silver (cast)
Dimensions
Length x width: 6.1 × 5.3 (2 3/8 × 2 1/16) x 4mm thick
Credit Line
The Maida and George Abrams Collection
Accession Number2021.183
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsNumismatics – Coins
Commemorative and portrait medals gained popularity during the Renaissance and medal making spread out beyond the Italian peninsula. In the Netherlands, the period of intense economic change and new prosperity of the 17th century coincided with a new interest in medals as a portable, reproducible art form suitable for depicting a wide range of subjects. Some medals depict important people, like rulers, elected officials, naval and military heroes; some show events, such as significant battles, treaties signed, marriages; and others show buildings or institutions that spoke of the United Provinces’ prosperity and commerce, like the town hall and the stock exchange in Amsterdam. Some medals commemorated life and death, such as this one which has a scull and other symbols for death on the reverse (or secondary side).
Inscriptionsrecto (banderole): Salich sijn de Dooden die in den Heere sterve[n] want sij rusten van haren arbeit [n.b. this is a Dutch rendition of Revelations 14:13: "Blessed are those who die in the Lord because they rest from their labor"]
recto (beneath the skull): Den dach de Dots / Is beter als den Dach / der geboorte [n.b. this is a Dutch rendition of Ecclesiastes 7:1: "the day of death is better than the day of birth"]
verso: Geertruyd van Campe / Obiit / Den 8 January 1701 / Oudt / 22 Jaren ["Geertruyd van Campe died on 8 January 1701, age 22 years"]
recto (beneath the skull): Den dach de Dots / Is beter als den Dach / der geboorte [n.b. this is a Dutch rendition of Ecclesiastes 7:1: "the day of death is better than the day of birth"]
verso: Geertruyd van Campe / Obiit / Den 8 January 1701 / Oudt / 22 Jaren ["Geertruyd van Campe died on 8 January 1701, age 22 years"]
ProvenanceNovember 15-17, 1999, sale (auction no. 23), Laurens Schulman, Bussum, Netherlands, lot 2450, to George S. and Maida Abrams, Newton, MA; 2021, gift of George S. Abrams to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 14, 2021)