Seventeenth-Century Collections
‘Coins are the breviaries of antiquity, the torch-light of history … The coin alone scorns the power of death, glorying in a metallic eternity’.
Louis-Henri de Loménie, Comte de Brienne, 1663.[1]
This comment by the ill-fated Louis-Henri de Loménie (1635–98), from whose library Worth acquired a sizeable number of books (including books on numismatics) following the 1724 sale of his and his family’s collections, would have been a sentiment with which Worth himself could identify, but also perhaps reflects the view of numismatics at the French royal court. Loménie de Brienne’s former playmate, Louis XIV (1638–1715), would certainly have agreed – and hoped perhaps to glory in a metallic eternity himself. Louis XIV’s court produced some of the most famous and influential numismatic authors of the entire early modern period: authors such as Charles Patin (1633–93), who fell foul of the king, and Jean Foy-Vaillant (1632–1706), who significantly augmented the French royal collections. It also served as a model for other dynasties, whose collections would be immortalised by writers such as Lorenz Beger (1653–1705), in the seventeenth century, and both Christian Sigismund Liebe (1687–1736), and Paolo Pedrusi (1644–1720), in the eighteenth century – each seeking to put their patrons’ own particular dynasty on the numismatic map of early modern Europe.
Fulvio Orsini, Familiae Romanae in antiquis numismatibus, ab urbe condita, ad tempora divi Augusti. Ex bibliotheca Fulvii Ursini, cum adjunctis Antonij Augustini … Carolus Patin … restituit, recognovit, auxit (Paris, 1663), Sig. A1v: portrait of Louis XIV (1638–1715), King of France.
Medals played a fundament role in royal propaganda during the seventeenth century. Jones dates the origin of early modern medals to Francesco II of Carrara (1359–1406), and they had undeniably been popular at the courts of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe but they came into the own during the seventeenth century and, especially, at the court of Louis XIV (1638–1715).[2] The French king founded the Académie des Inscriptions et Médailles in 1663 and medals commemorating important events during his reign were regularly issued. In 1702 a catalogue of these medals appeared in print – Worth owned the second edition which appeared in 1723.[3] Louis XIV clearly used medals to promote his reign and his image of the Sun King. Of course, as Jones has noted, propagandistic medals might work both ways: Louis XIV might use them to promote the ‘gloire’ of the Sun King but his opponents might also produce medals to undermine this view. During the 1670s and 1680s the Dutch in particular used medals as a method of critiquing Louis XIV’s actions by parodying some of the iconography of his medals.[4]
Adolf Occo, Imperatorum Romanorum numismata a Pompeo Magno ad Heraclium ab Adolfo Occone olim congesta, nunc augustorum iconibus, perpetuis historico–chronologicis notis, pluribusque additamentis illustrata, & aucta. … Studio, et cura Francisci Mediobarbi Biragi … (Milan, 1683), engraved title page of Leopold I (1640–1705), Holy Roman Emperor.
While Louis XIV’s fascination with medals is very evident in Worth’s numismatic collections, he was by no means the only ruler to look to numismatic collecting as a way to enhance his own prestige. Just as Fulvio Orsini had had his Maecenas in the shape of Cardinal Alessando Farnese (1520–89), seventeenth-century authors on numismatics were either commissioned to write about the collections of their masters – or dedicated their works in the hope of acquiring a sponsor. Some might, as the Italian lawyer and numismatist Francesco Mezzabarba Birago (1645–97), decide to bring out an edition of an old classic and dedicate it to a new emperor – in this case Leopold I (1640–1705), Holy Roman Emperor. Mezzabarba Birago’s edition might not have been well-received but he clearly had a deep interest in numismatics and owned a substantial collection himself.[5] Worth’s 1683 edition of Occo’s text displays at least one reader’s interest, for some pages dealing with later Roman emperors and empresses are annotated, displaying an interest in, for example, Galla Placidia (approximately 386–450), Empress of Rome.[6]
Filippo Paruta, La Sicilia di Filippo Paruta descritta con medaglie, e ristampata con aggiunta da Leonardo Agostini. Hora in miglior ordine disposta da Marco Maier (Lyon, 1697), plate 16: ‘Di Messina’.
Another Italian lawyer, Filippo Paruta (1550?–1629), was responsible for a book with a more localised scope, dedicated to the medals of Sicily. A Sicilian by birth, Paruta was a member of the Accademia degli Accesi e dei Risoluti in Palermo and was a committed numismatist. His Della Sicilia di Filippo Parvuta descrizione con medaglie was first printed in Palermo in 1612 and Leonardo Agostini (1593–approximately 1670), brought out a second augmented edition in 1649 at Rome. Worth owned a Lyon 1697 printing of this second edition. In the above plate we see medals depicting the distinctive springing hare of Messina, and the figure of the nymph Messana driving a chariot.
Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Notae in numismata tum Ephesia, tum aliarum urbium apibus insignita (Rome, 1658), plate 20: coins from Ephesus.
As Dekesel demonstrated in his magnum opus, in seventeenth-century Italy, Rome, as the capital city, was only surpassed by Venice in the amount of numismatic publications emanating from its presses. The high point in Roman production was mid-century – particularly the two decades between 1650 and 1669, just when Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613–96), was publishing his work on the coinage of Ephesus.[7] Throughout the course of the seventeenth century Roman printers seem to have been most interested in producing texts that fit into Dekesel categories 1 and 11: namely ‘Works dedicated to coins, medals, tokens, dies, etc., ancient and/or contemporary, including physical appearance and place in history’ (category 1), and ‘Histories with some numismatic content (plates and/or text)’ (category 11).[8]
Bellori’s book fits firmly into Dekesel category 1 but Bellori himself, while an antiquarian, did not focus solely on coins and medals – indeed he is best known for his lives of artists. He did, however, serve from 1677 to 1689 as librarian to Christina (1626–89), Queen of Sweden, and so would have had detailed knowledge of her coin collection. Prior to working on Queen Christina’s coin collection he had also served as librarian to Cardinal Gasparo Carpegna (1625–1714), and studied the cardinal’s coin collection also. Worth owned three books by him, two of which were devoted to numismatics – this work on the coins of Ephesus, and his Adnotationes nunc primum evulgatae in XII. priorum Caesarum numismata ab Aenea Vico Parmensi olim edita noviter additis eorumdem Caesarum imaginibus majori forma à praestatioribus calchographis aeri incisis … (Rome, 1730), a work which demonstrates the enduring appeal of the sixteenth-century numismatic author Enea Vico (1523–67).
Ezechiel Spanheim, Dissertationes de praestantia et usu numismatum antiquorum (London, 1706), p. 96, detail: Phoenician coins from Gaza.
The Swiss diplomat Ezechiel Spanheim (1629–1710), had a greater impact on seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century numismatics studies. He was recognised by leading members of the early modern Republic of Letters as being a true scholar, devoted to antiquity.[9] Indeed the seventeenth-century French numismatic writer, Louis Jobert (1637–1719), refers to him as ‘the Famous Spanheimius’ and commends his Dissertationes de praestantia et usu numismatum antiquorum as being ‘A Work worthy of its Author, in which is to be seen the vast Extent of his Knowledge, Penetration and Judgment, and a certain Air and Character of the Honneste homme, that is so often wanting in other Learned Men, and which particularly appears by the Respect wherewith he treats those whose Sentiments he cannot approve, which gains him Esteem and Veneration from all Authors’.[10] Spanheim’s fame was merited for his impact on seventeenth-century numismatic studies was immense as he sought to place it on a more scholarly footing. Worth owned a 1706 edition of his major contribution to the field: Dissertationes de praestantia et usu numismatum antiquorum (London, 1706), which was followed by a second volume published at Amsterdam in 1717, which Worth also acquired. The work had initially been published at Rome in 1664 and as De Callatay notes, the source collection Spanheim used (and indeed the source of his funding for the project), came from Christina, Queen of Sweden.[11] It was, however, the London-Amsterdam edition which really brought it to the attention of eighteenth-century numismatists.[12]
Jacob de Wilde, Selecta numismata antiqua; ex musaeo Jacobi de Wilde (Amsterdam, 1692), p. 212, detail.
While the courts of Europe were a prime hunting ground for those interested in extensive numismatic collections, non-nobles could also develop important collections. Goltzius’ 1563 listing of collectors had demonstrated the extensive numismatic collecting taking place in the Southern Netherlands during his lifetime and in the later sixteenth and early seventeenth century we know that collectors such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Nicolaas Rockox (1560–1640), Abraham Van Goorle (Gorlaeus, c. 1549–1608), Nicolaas Rockox (1560–1640), and, last but not least, Charles (1560–1612), Duke of Croy and Arschot, all became avid collectors. However, as the Dekesels in their magnum opus have demonstrated, the sixteenth century was the high point of numismatic interest in the Southern Netherlands, followed by a decline in the production of numismatic literature in the mid to late seventeenth century.[13] Power (and with it numismatic publications), was moving from the South to the Northern Netherlands.[14]
De Callatay points to the 1630s as being the critical decade wherein numismatic dominance shifted between the Northern and Southern Netherlands.[15] Perhaps the collection amassed by Jacob de Wilde (1645–1725?), points to this shift and it also reminds us that previous coins and medals were not the preserve of the royal and ducal courts. The son of a plumber, De Wilde had married well (a granddaughter of Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609)), and subsequently he became Collector-General for Taxes in the Dutch Republic. Throughout the course of his life he amassed a large collection which became known as the Museum Wildeanum, and which was visited by the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great (1672–1725) in 1697. This image from his book about his collection shows a sizing guide and variations of it may be found in a number of Worth’s numismatic books.
Text: Dr Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin.
Sources
Callatay, François de, ‘Vaillant, Frölich and the others (Spanheim, Beger, Haym, Liebe, Pellerin, Eckhel, Duane, etc): The remarkable interest in Seleucid coinages in the 18th century’, in Winter, Heinz, and Bernhard Woytek (eds), Numismatik und Geldgeschichte in Zeitalter der Aufklärung: Beiträge zum Symposium in Residenszschloss Dresden, 4–9. Mai 2009 (Vienna, 2015), pp 43–77.
Callatay, François de, ‘Glory and misery of Belgian numismatics from the 16th to the 18th C. as seen through three milestones (Goltz 1563, Serrure 1847 and the Dekesels) and private correspondences’, in Moens, Jan (ed.), 175 Years of Royal Numismatic Society of Belgium: Proceedings of the Colloquium Belgium Numismatics in Perspective, Brussels, 21 May 2016 (Brussels, 2017), pp 37–129.
Dekesel, Christian E., Bibliotheca Nummaria II: bibliography of 17th century numismatic books; illustrated and annotated catalogue, 3 vols (London, 2003).
Hoefer, Ferdinand, Nouvelle Biographie Générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à 1850–60 (Copenhagen, 1968), vol. xxxv.
Jobert, Louis, The knowledge of medals, or, Instructions for those who apply themselves to the study of medals both ancient and modern from the French (London, 1697).
Jones, Mark, ‘The medal as an instrument of propaganda in late 17th and early 18th century Europe: Part I’, The Numismatic Chronicle (1966–), 142 (1982), 117–26.
Jones, Mark, ‘The medal as an instrument of propaganda in late 17th and early 18th century Europe: Part II’, The Numismatic Chronicle (1966–),143 (1983), 202–13.
Morris, Robert, ‘A Noble Testimony to Numismatic Science’, American Journal of Numismatics, and Bulleting of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, 11, no. 2 (1876), 31–3.
Occo, Adolf, Imperatorum Romanorum numismata a Pompeo Magno ad Heraclium ab Adolfo Occone olim congesta, nunc augustorum iconibus, perpetuis historico–chronologicis notis, pluribusque additamentis illustrata, & aucta. … Studio, et cura Francisci Mediobarbi Biragi … (Milan, 1683).
Zaruchi, Jeanne Morgan, ‘Medals Catalogues of Louis XIV : Art and Propaganda’, Source: Notes in the History of Art, 17, no. 4 (1998), 26–34.
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[1] Morris, Robert, ‘A Noble Testimony to Numismatic Science’, American Journal of Numismatics, and Bulleting of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, 11, no. 2 (1876), 32. Morris gives an incorrect publication date of 1673.
[2] Jones, Mark, ‘The medal as an instrument of propaganda in late 17th and early 18th century Europe: Part I’, The Numismatic Chronicle (1966–), 142 (1982), 117.
[3] On this see Zaruchi, Jeanne Morgan, ‘Medals Catalogues of Louis XIV : Art and Propaganda’, Source: Notes in the History of Art, 17, no. 4 (1998), 26–34.
[4] Jones, ‘The medal as an instrument of propaganda in late 17th and early 18th century Europe: Part I’, 118.
[5] Hoefer, Ferdinand, Nouvelle Biographie Générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à 1850–60 (Copenhagen, 1968), vol. xxxv, p. 303.
[6] Occo, Adolf, Imperatorum Romanorum numismata a Pompeo Magno ad Heraclium ab Adolfo Occone olim congesta, nunc augustorum iconibus, perpetuis historico–chronologicis notis, pluribusque additamentis illustrata, & aucta. … Studio, et cura Francisci Mediobarbi Biragi … (Milan, 1683), p. 592.
[7] Dekesel, Christian E., Bibliotheca Nummaria II: bibliography of 17th century numismatic books; illustrated and annotated catalogue, 3 vols (London, 2003), i, p. xxii.
[8] Ibid., p. xxix.
[9] Callatay, François de, ‘Vaillant, Frölich and the others (Spanheim, Beger, Haym, Liebe, Pellerin, Eckhel, Duane, etc): The remarkable interest in Seleucid coinages in the 18th century’, in Winter, Heinz, and Bernhard Woytek (eds), Numismatik und Geldgeschichte in Zeitalter der Aufklärung: Beiträge zum Symposium in Residenszschloss Dresden, 4–9. Mai 2009 (Vienna, 2015), p. 45.
[10] Jobert, Louis, The knowledge of medals, or, Instructions for those who apply themselves to the study of medals both ancient and modern from the French (London, 1697), p. 61.
[11] Callatay, ‘Vaillant, Frölich and the others (Spanheim, Beger, Haym, Liebe, Pellerin, Eckhel, Duane, etc): The remarkable interest in Seleucid coinages in the 18th century’, p. 45.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid., p. 48.
[14] Ibid., p. 51.
[15] Ibid., p. 54.