Portrait Medals

Past Exhibition: The Proud Republic

Image of silver medal depicting William III, Prince of Orange
The Proud Republic: Dutch Medals of the Golden Age
May 6, 1997 to July 27, 1997

An exhibition of forty-one medals, a print by Rembrandt, and a spectacular silver-gilt standing cup with cover, dated 1639, by Jan Lutma the Elder, all chosen and catalogued by guest curator Stephen K. Scher.  The exhibition focused on Dutch medals of the seventeenth century, preceded by a sampling of sixteenth-century Italian and Netherlandish examples.  Almost all of the examples are in silver, and most are cast, although large struck medals are equally important and impressive.

Past Exhibition: The Currency of Fame

image of gold medal depicting Queen Elizabeth.
The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance
May 24, 1994 to August 22, 1994

The first major survey in America on the art of the Renaissance portrait medal, on display in the Garden Court. The exhibition was co-organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and The Frick Collection and included more than 170 of the most important and beautiful medals from the major European centers of production: Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and England.