A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY VENETIAN COIN PORTRAIT

Author(s): Alan M. Stahl

Source: Museum Notes (American Numismatic Society), Vol. 30 (1985), pp. 211-214
Published by: American Numismatic Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43573701
Accessed: 30-08-2017 19:09 UTC

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ANSMN 30 (1985)
© 1985 The American Numismatic Society

A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY
VENETIAN COIN PORTRAIT

(Plate 46) Alan M. Stahl

From the late Roman period until the Renaissance, depic

rulers on European coins were symbolic rather than specific. A
such as clothing, crown or scepter were used to indicate the
the issuer, but no attempt was made to portray specific charac
of the individual in whose name the coin was struck. An im
break from this schematic approach to depiction, and from
other aspects of medieval coinage, came in 1231 with the issu
gold augustalis for the Italian realms of Frederick II of Hohen
Whether the bust on this coin represented a generalized imper
based on classical prototypes or an actual attempt to depict the
nomy of Frederick remains, after much debate, uncertain.1 W
be said is that like so many aspects of Frederick's reign, his inn
in coinage were not immediately taken up by others. It has g
been held that the first true European coin portraits cannot
before the middle of the fifteenth century, on the coins of t
and other northern Italian princes.2
In Venice, the last of the Italian communes to maintain elec
rulers, the anonymity of the ducal portrait on coinage re
public concern through the fifteenth century. Under Nic

1 H. Kowalski, "Die Augustalen Kaiser Friedrichs II," SNR 55 (1976), p

2 H. Nussbaum, "Fürstenporträte auf italianischen Münzen des Quat
ZfN 35 (1925), pp. 145-92; E. Bernareggi, Monete d'oro con ritratto del rinasci-
mento italiano , 1450-1515 (Milan, 1954).

211

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212 Alan M. Stahl

(1471-74) a new denomination,

type was a portrait bust of the
type was changed to a scene o
Saint Mark. A contemporary ch
images on coins, not heads of
grossi of doge Antonio Venier
apparent attempt to introduc
almost a century before that of
The Venetian silver grosso was
coins of the thirteenth and e
shortly before the Fourth Crusa
Venice's commercial expansion
mid-fourteenth century, it gav
was no longer minted after 135
tarmi, the grosso was reissued,
tion in type.4 This second type
obverse of a standing doge and
profile. On the reverse, the enth
star and a letter indicating the
plicated system of symbols on t
type was produced using punch
of the doge and the saint, and t
the doge's head is without disti
peaks in front and back (Plate 4
through the brief reign of Mic
5070] and into the reign of Ven
In 1394, the standard of the gr
Senate and a new type was orde
the obverse two stars flanking
longer legend was supplied and
peared. In the collection of th
145 specimens of the type thre
principally from three parcel

3 N. Papadopoli, Le Monete di Venezi

4 Papadopoli (above, n. 3), vol. 1 (V
6 One of these is published as Parcel
Grossi in the ANS Collection," RIN 86

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 Early Venetian Coin Portrait 213

of uncertainty as to provenance, it cannot be det

parcels are derived from separate hoards. Ho
grossi of Venier's successor, Michele Steno, it
all include emissions from his entire reign. Am
108 obverse dies. Seventy-seven of these obvers
the same punch for the doge's head as those of
Venier and of Contarini. They are presumably
type three grossi (Plate 46, 4 [ANS]).
The other 31 type three grossi dies of Venier w
for the doge's head which depicts a bearded man
mature age (Plate 46, 5 and 8, enlarged detail [ANS])
springs from an indentation at eye level. The cap
back; no curls appear behind. This depiction, unlike
portrayals of doges on earlier Venetian coins, bea
to the marble portrait figure of Venier in the Muse
(Plate 46, 9). This piece is attributed to the sc
Masegne and is believed to have been done from
1394.® The ducal promise of Antonio Venier in
Venice, also contains a miniature portrait of hi
from life, likewise showing a prominent beard
are among the earliest examples of Venetian port
the awakening of an interest in distinctive portr
teristics of the doge. The introduction of a beard
was accompanied by the adoption of a new punc
as well as one for his robe, which replaced the
his garment on earlier dies and rendered a more
to the figure.
An estimate of the total number of dies used in
coinage of Venier, following Carter's formulae,

6 W. Wolters, La Scultura veneziana gotica (Venice,

illustration of this sculpture (Plate 46, 9) taken from th
of Art, Print and Photography Division, The New York Public Library, Astor,
Lenox and Tilden Foundation.

7 Giulio L., "Ritratti di doge in Palazzo Ducale," Rivista di Venezia , 12

(1933), p. 393; the caption assigning this portrait to Michele Steno is in error, as is
obvious from the author's argument and the indiction date of six visible in the re-
production, which corresponds to Venier's oath of office and not Steno's.

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 214 Alan M. Stahl

less punch was used on 235 di

rate of die use was constant in
punch would have been introd
way through the issue. Another
used as a subtle marker of a fur
1399.9

The introduction of the bear

Venier does not appear to have b
the other Venetian denominatio
On grossi of Michele Steno, Ve
with at least two different pu
(Plate 46, 6 and 7); while both
Venier, it is not certain wheth
doge who, at least in most repr
less.10

At the end of the fourteenth century, at the height of Venice's com-

mercial power and in the later years of the reign of a popular doge,
an individualized portrait of that leader was introduced onto the coinage
of the Republic. Perhaps because of its diminutive size, it does not seem
to have aroused objections among the citizens. It was in the late fifteenth
century, when Venice's glory was beginning to wane, that contempo-
raries identified Tron's large portrait on a new denomination as the
expression of tyrannical inclinations and restored the anonymous, for-
mulaic rendering of the ducal image to Venetian coinage.

8 G. F. Carter, "A Simplified Method for Calculating the Original Number of Dies
from Die Link Statistics," ANSMN 28 (1983), pp. 195-206.
9 Papadopoli (above, n. 4), p. 227.
10 Lorenzetti (above, n. 7), pp. 387-98.

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Plate 46

12 3 4

9RSK^M| 9

Fourteenth Century Coin Portrai

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