Iconographic remarks on the medal by Luis Varoú from the year 1677 (?) commemorating the person of John III Sobieski, commissioned by the authorities of the city of Gdańsk

Abstract

The author of the article Iconographic remarks on the medal by Luis Varoú from the year 1677 (?) commemorating the person of John III Sobieski, commissioned by the authorities of the city of Gdańsk describes in detail eight works of art referring to either side of the medal. The author argues that while the seventeenth-century iconography contains no representations of images which would beyond all doubt be used by the medallist as a model for the obverse or reverse of the item, it is obvious that an examination of surviving works of art from the early modern period would enable a researcher to find a similar reproduction of both the unique headgear in the form of a helmet and the image of Pheme. A characteristic which all all antica images of prominent members of European elite on medals share is obviously their message. The contracting party wanted particularly to expose their own talents and military skills as well as to commemorate recent military triumphs. Meanwhile, designing a winged image of Pheme, the creator of the medal presumably followed, at least in part, one of the famous 17th-century engravings. Due to the circumstances of the issue of the medal and the need to emphasize the links between Gdańsk and the then Polish monarch, the talented medallist, which Luis Varoú undoubtedly was, could not simply content himself with a faithful reproduction of well-known symbols, but had to show more or less manifestly current political events. Hence the key to understanding the message of the reverse side of the medal seems to lie in two particular elements: in the background, a realist panorama of Gdańsk from the side where the city fortifications are most prominent, and the coat of arms of the reigning dynasty.

Keywords

• medal
• obverse
• reverse
• Höhn
• Sobieski