The new art very soon found its way into France and Germany,
but at first received no encouragement in this country,
and the only pieces issued in England before the reign of
Henry VIII. consist of a few counters, many of which are of
very inferior execution. The first contemporary medallic
portrait of an Englishman is that of John Kendal in 1480,
but this piece is undoubtedly of Italian work, and was no
doubt made at Venice. Of Scotchmen we have the fine medal
of Archbishop Schevez, bearing his portrait and arms, and executed
probably in Flanders in 1491—a fitting memorial of this
great patron of art and assiduous collector of MSS. and books.
The medallic history of England, therefore, really opens with
the reign of Henry VIII., and the medals of that period are
commemorative chiefly of persons and not of events. Of the
King himself there are several medallic portraits, the most
interesting being one evidently after a likeness by Holbein.
There are also portrait-medals of Anne Boleyn, Thomas
Cromwell (Earl of Essex), Sir Thomas More, and Michael
Mercator, a native of Venloo, and the envoy to this country
from Floris d’Egmont, Count of Buren. Mercator was a
medallist as well as a diplomatist, and the medals bearing
his portrait and that of his wife are supposed to be by his
own hands. These were probably made by Mercator after his
departure from this country. Another important medal of this
reign is that on which Henry proclaims his supremacy over the
Church, and on which his titles are recorded in Latin, Hebrew,
and Greek.
The short reign of Edward VI. affords hut few examples of
medals. One of these, his coronation medal, borrowed its
type from the medal of his father, just mentioned; another
is a portrait of the King in lead, apparently a cast from a
medallion in silver, which may have formed the centre of a
plate or dish. The medalets and badges connected with the
schools founded by Edward VI. are all modern productions.
Of Mary and her husband, Philip II. of Spain, there are
some excellent portraits; and of Mary alone a few medals,
which refer to the state of England during her reign. These
were executed by the Italian artist, Jacopo Trezzo, who resided
for a considerable time in Madrid, and was in the service of
Philip II. They are the first signed medals of the English
series, and the circumstance of their being issued by a foreign
artist is in no way exceptional, as the history of English
medallists is in a great degree the history of the medallists of
other countries.
The reign of Elizabeth, fertile in great events, was productive
of many important medals. Her illness in 1572, her
struggle with the Papal party, as well as her acceptance of the
protection of the Netherlands, and the defeat and destruction
of the Spanish Armada, all afforded subjects worthy of commemoration.
Of the celebrated men who flourished in the
Elizabethan era there are medals, of William, Earl of Pembroke,
Sir Bichard Shelley, Sir Christopher Hatton, Leicester,
and Essex. Of Mary Queen of Scots, and of Elizabeth
herself, we have the beautiful works made and signed by
Primavera, an Italian artist who resided in the Netherlands and
in France. Stephen of Holland, who was in this country in
the year 1562, also executed some medallic portraits remarkable
for their delicacy of execution and softness of expression, and
for their evident excellence as representations of the originals.
(See Biographical Notices of Engravers, &c., Vol. II. p. 740.)
The medals of this artist are always cast and chased, and it is
not improbable that he had studied at Nuremberg, one of the
schools for medallists in Germany, and in which Albert Durer
had worked. Passing over the medals recording the less important
events of this reign we come to those which commemorate
the defeat of the Spanish Armada, of which some were
made in Holland, others in England, though not bearing
any signatures of the medallists. Foremost amongst these
memorials issued in this country are the badges hearing the
portrait of Elizabeth crowned and holding the sceptre and orb,
and decked in a massive ruff and jewelled drapery, having
on the reverse either the ark resting securely and tranquilly
on the waters, or else a bay-tree standing upon an island
and uninjured by the falling lightning, emblematic of the fortunes
of the Queen, who had escaped the many dangers which
surrounded her, inasmuch as the Armada had been defeated,
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