The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 39, September 30, 2007, Article 6

NUMISMATICS IN THE RENAISSANCE COMING TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

[Alan Stahl, Curator of Numismatics at Princeton published the
following release via the American Numismatic Society mail list
Wednesday afternoon.  -Editor]

A major exhibition on "Numismatics in the Renaissance" will be
on view in the Main Exhibition Gallery of Firestone Library at
Princeton University from November 9, 2007, through July 20, 2008.
The exhibition will include rare fifteenth- and sixteenth-century
volumes from Princeton's Rare Books Division that discuss and
illustrate ancient coins, and a display of some of the treasures
of the Library's Numismatic Collection, featuring gold, silver,
and bronze coins of Greece and Rome, as well as coins and medals
of the Renaissance that were inspired by them. The exhibition will
also include manuscripts, prints, and drawings from Princeton
University collections and Pirro Ligorio's monumental map of
ancient Rome, made in 1561.

Although ancient coins were found throughout the Mediterranean
region in the millennium following the end of the Roman Empire,
it was only in Renaissance Europe that they began to be studied
systematically; reproductions appear in some of the earliest printed
books to carry engraved illustrations. The Princeton collection
is particularly rich in these impressive examples of early printing,
ranging from the 1517 edition of Andrea Fulvio's Images of the
Illustrious, with its highly decorated settings of each coin image,
through Hubert Goltzius's large-scale chiaroscuro reproductions of
imperial portraits of the 1550s, to Antonio Augustín's late
sixteenth-century systematic classification of ancient coinage
and guidelines for detecting counterfeits.

The role that the study of ancient coins played in Renaissance
culture will be illustrated through the display of art works of
the period that depict objects of classical antiquity, most notably
a drawing by Parmigianino in the collection of the Princeton
University Art Museum with an image of the goddess Minerva
apparently derived from one on Roman coins. Selected Renaissance
coins and medals will highlight the efforts of rulers of the period
to present themselves in the guise of ancient leaders. Coin imagery
in Renaissance literature will be shown by the pairing of Tudor coins
with early editions of Shakespeare's history plays, which are
particularly rich in puns on coin names and details.

A daylong symposium, "The Rebirth of Antiquity: Numismatics,
Archaeology, and Classical Studies in the Culture of the
Renaissance," will be held on Friday, November 9, to celebrate the
opening of the exhibition that afternoon at 4:30. The symposium is
free and open to the public; individuals who wish to attend should
pre-register by contacting Alan Stahl, Curator of Numismatics (609-
258-9127; astahl@princeton.edu).

"Numismatics in the Renaissance" is free and open to the public.
Gallery hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus Wednesday
evenings until 7:45 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5
p.m. Exhibition tours will be offered to the public at 3:00 p.m.
on Sundays: November 18, 2007, and March 16 and June 1, 2008.

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

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