Pope Innocent XII (obverse); Pelican Piercing its Breast (reverse)

Inscriptions

Obverse: Innocen – XII – PONT – OPT- MAX – A-III (circumference). Beatrix Hamerana (bottom left) Reverse: SINVM - SVVM - APERVIT – EGENIS (upper circumference). 1694 (pedestal)

Label

Portrait medals preserved the memory and identity of the sitter. While they had no worth in an economic sense, they held significant social value. Often combining a portrait, an inscription, and a personal emblem, portrait medals functioned as a kind of propaganda, concentrating key information about the depicted person’s wealth, position, and likeness. The circulation of portrait medals materialized the relationship between the giver and the recipient, and individuals exchanged such gifts in order to forge relationships, seal political alliances, join families in marriage, or show favor. In amassing the portraits of contemporaries, relatives, rivals, and nobility, Europeans articulated their social networks in concrete form. Brought together in the home, often in large quantities, medals functioned in conversation with one another and with their viewers.

From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

History 42.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 22.01, Gender & European Society, Patrick Meehan, Spring 2024

History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Noemi Perego, Spring 2024

Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Tania Convertini, Spring 2024

Italian 3.02, Introductory Italian III, Giorgio Alberti, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Roma Resurgens: Papal Medals from the Age of the Baroque, exhibition held at Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, 4 March–26 April 1981, David and Alfred Smart Gallery, the University of Chicago, 1 July–9 August 1981, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, 22 August–11 October 1981.

Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.

Publication History

Nathan Whitman in collaboration with John Varriano, Roma Resurgens: Papal Medals from the Age of the Baroque, exh. cat. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1981), no, 141. John Varriano, "Some Documentary Evidence on the Restriking of Early Papal Medals," Musuem Notes (American Numismatic Society 26 (1981): 215–23. Filippo Buonanni, Numismata pontificum romanorum, quæ　à tempore Martini v. usque ad annum (Rome 1699), vol. 2: 831 no. xiii. W.S. Lincoln & Son, A Descriptive catalogue of papal medals (London, 1890), 82 no. 1545.

Provenance

Michael Hall (1926-2020) sale Baldwin’s, Auction 66: The Michael Hall Collection: Medallic Portraits from the Renaissance to the Nineteenth Century (Part Two), London, June 29, 2010, lot 1204; Robin Halwas, London, England; sold to present collection, 2022.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu

Subjects