The body and soul of the medal is distinguished in the history of art. By the body one means the image, which not only directly represents what happened but often hints at it through an allegory. The soul is the inscription which clarifies the image.Most of them are sick in both body and soul.
In a good medal 1. the visual representation should have an undisputed inner resemblance to what it is indicating. The Italians call it ´Metafora in fatto.´2. the inscription should indicate the resemblance in a short way but to the point. It should not be too dark.
Carl Christoph Schmieder, Handwörterbuch der gesammten Münzkunde, 1811
„The medal is a durable monument and is made to transmit great events to posterity. That which it represents and that which it says should be represented and said in a noble and ingenious way.“ Medailles Louis le Grand 1702
Eleonora, the Roman Empress, wifeOf the Most August Emperor Ferdinand III,Crowned the Queen of Bohemia 11 SeptemberOf the year 1656
VNVM SEQVOR (I follow the One)
Eleonora II Gonzagathe 1650sFranck Luycx
Wallenstein family collection
Gold specimen of the medal put on altar during the Coronation service
VNVM SEQVOR (I follow the One)
Unum sequor was her motto she added when signing visitor´s book
Italian eliotropo for sunflower resonates with her name Eleanor and her Italian origin. Also the poets played with her name changing it to Helionora Gonzaga
VNVM SEQVOR (I follow the One)
Laurel wreath for winner overcomming obstacles
light of true knowledge comming through the clouds of ignorance
Paradin (Symeons 1591)Sunflower- Turning to Christ (Camerarius 1590)- Following Christ (Reusner 1591)- Constant love and wife´s obedience of
husband (Typotius 1601)- Reward for good deeds (Taurellus 1602)- Faithfullness of lovers (Vaenius 1608,
Custos 1622)- Love of people towards good prince
(Zincgreff 1619)- Christ is Life (Hulsius 1631)
Van Dyck
Self-Portrait
after1633
Reward for good deeds (Taurellus 1602)Emblem of Painting imitating Natureas flower following the Sun
Personal motto unum sequor
Eleanor = Helionora = eliotropo
family emblem
Common emblem
Following Christ (Reusner 1591)
Eleonora Gonzagawearing her Order of Slaves of Virtue,1655KHM
VNVM SEQVOR (I follow the One)
SOL[A]] UBIQUE TRIUMPHAT (Itself triumphs everywhere)
Sol (Sun) x Sola (itself)
= Virtue- required from the members of the order
Laurel wreath for winner overcomming obstacles
The Empress also established the Sternkreuzorden,Order of the Starry Crossfor ladies who were obliged„to lead a virtuous life in the exercise of religion and works of charity.”
She wrote religious poetry and founded a literary academy
LEOP.IOS.S.R.I.CO.A.SCHLICK.S.C.M.CONS.INT.GEN.CAMP.MAR.SVP.BO.CANC(Leopold Josef, Count of the Holy Roman Empire of Schlick, Privy Counsellor of the Sacred Imperial Majesty, General and Field Marshal, Lord Chancellor of Bohemia)
BELLI ET PACIS DECORI. MDCCXVIII.| D.D.| C.G.H.(to the ornament of war and peace gives as gift Carl Gustav Heraeus in 1718)
Paolo Giovio, Dialogo dell´imprese 1555cites from Plutarch an example of Pompey's seal-ring, where the device was a lion holding a naked sword in its paw- TOKEN OF AUTHORITY AND
POWER- HARD AND BOLD ENTERPRISE
Whitney 1586
Courage, Bravery, Valiance, Manliness; 'Ardire magnanimo et generoso', 'Gagliardezza', 'Valore', 'Virtù heroica', 'Virtù dell'animo e del corpo' (Ripa)
Paradin 1551 (Symeons 1591)
Lion from the family coat-of-arms
Bohemian lion,here adorning the Bohemian Chancery in Viennawhere Schlick worked asthe Chancellor of Bohemia
Leibnitz about Vienna, alluding to Schlick:„There are more solid scientists among aristocracy then among those who have science for their profession.“Heraeus to Leibnitz:„Schlick is the one who is most disposed towards the idea [to establish the Academy in Vienna],“ HARD AND BOLD ENTERPRISE that only succeeded in 1846.
Carl Gustav Heraeus(1671 – 1725)Emperor´s Inspector of Antiquities and Keeper of coins Poet appreciated for his beautiful hexameters
Carl Gustav Heraeus, Inscriptiones et symbola varii argumenti, Nurmbegr 1721
(Inscriptions and symbols of various subjects – but argumentum also suggests riddles)
Carl Gustav Heraeus(1671 – 1725)
Emperor´s Inspector of Antiquities and Keeper of coins
Portrait of a learned man who brings
history back to life by his writing based
on medals
Hoard of coins
Piece of Antiquity
Ink-stand + quilt
Book
Deed of record
Ripa´s History
Sambucus, Emblemata 1564Antiquitatis studiumTime destroys everything, and what, which artists’ hands produced, sees a long old age? Under his rule, destiny has snatched monuments away, so that antiquity cannot last longer, and form a structure. Look, now God shows marble blocks to you, Rome, in order to summon the kind of honesty approved through the virtue of the ancients. The riches are excavated as incentives for good deeds, and no day can ever efface coins. The golden coins testify of those who lived in a golden age, and they point out many things about which books have been silent.
Lion with church from the Schlick coat-of-arms
Lion with column.They both represent Fortitude
Warfare Learning
Emblemata Theodor de Bry,1592
Currasiered warrior x weak humanity fading soon away like lilly
63 years old
Long-term illness towards the end of his life, the government meetings were held by his bedside
Schloss Eggenberg
Take no thought for your life … Consider the lillies of the field, how they grow: they toile not, neither doe they spinne. And yet I say vnto you, that euen Solomon in all his glory, was not arayed like one of these.
Prince Eggenberg1631
Ottavio Piccolomini 1650
Since 1641 member of The Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft where his emblem was annual honesty, in German Mondraute (Lunaria annua):
Die Kleine Monraut' ist in wundersamen preis' Jn dem sie manchem hengst die eisen rabgerißen: Der Zwingend' ich daher und Zu entwafnen heis', Hab' iederZeit den feind Zu zwingen mich beflißen Und Zuentwafnen ihn: Jm werck' ich es erweis' Er hat, gezwungen, mir bißher noch weichen müßen. Doch nein, ich Zwing' ihn nicht: Gott ist es der den Zwingt, Der mit der waffen macht auf meinen keyser dringt.
God´s Providence
Saavedra: offices in princely service
40 years old,no important office so farHis father the fallen prime minister 21 years ago
Prince Lobkowicz 1695
BY LIGHT OF SUN
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