A silver commemorative medal bearing the likeness of John Calvin, struck by the German medallist Sebastian Dadler in 1641, seventy seven years after Calvin's death. The medal belongs to the class of posthumous portrait medals produced across Protestant Europe to circulate the images of Reformers who left no tomb or monument of their own. Held today by the Metropolitan Museum of Art under accession 2023.569.194, given through The Mark and Lottie Salton Trust in 2021.
Facts
Physical Form
MediumSilver medal, Sebastian Dadler, 1641, Metropolitan Museum of Art 2023.569.194 1 Medium (class) Origins
Attributed ToSebastian Dadler, a German medallist. 1 Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Source John Calvin (1509 to 1564), accession 2023.569.194 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Derived: this work depicts a figure already recorded as belonging to this tradition; the work-to-tradition link is inferred from that live depicts edge and the figures own attested tradition affiliation, not independently sourced beyond it.
Depicts
The medal's directly named subject per the museum's own title, naming Calvin with his birth and death years, part of the posthumous medal tradition the corroborating Wikipedia record independently describes as arising from his own request for an unmarked grave.
Source John Calvin (1509 to 1564), accession 2023.569.194 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Additional Source John Calvin (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Authored By
Also in Arts and Music Atlas: the author of this subject.
Source The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access API: Metropolitan Museum of Art object record 855731artistDisplayNameQuote, artistDisplayName
"artistDisplayName": "Sebastian Dadler"
Sources
1. John Calvin (1509 to 1564), accession 2023.569.194 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Metropolitan Museum of Artcatalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A silver commemorative medal bearing the likeness of John Calvin, struck by the German medallist Sebastian Dadler in 1641, seventy seven years after Calvin's death.
John Calvin (Wikipedia)
WikipediaDepicts: John CalvinQuote, Depicts: John Calvin
Calvin asked to be buried in an unmarked grave, so that no cult of personality would grow around a tomb; his likeness survives instead chiefly through portraits and medals made after his lifetime.
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