Cast bronze medal of Desiderius Erasmus of
Rotterdam, by Quentin Metsys (about 1462-1530)
Antwerp, AD 1519
Portrait of a scholar and
reformer
The Latin and Greek inscriptions around
Metsys' portrait of the great humanist scholar Erasmus
(1469-1536) tell us that the portrait was executed from life but
that 'his writings will present a better image'.
Such an inscription shows Erasmus and his medallist to be repeating
a classical formula on the limitations of
portraiture.
Erasmus, who
took Augustinian orders, was greatly influenced by the humanist
scholars of the previous century who had worked in Italy. His
historical studies focussed particularly on the Greek New Testament
and the Church Fathers. By emphasizing the better practices of
religion in the past, he highlighted current church abuses, and
urged reform. His many widely-read books included the
Praise of Folly,
Education of a Christian
Prince and the
Colloquia.
The
Netherlandish painter Quentin Metsys (about 1462-1530) was
particularly in tune with Italian trends and a natural choice to
make Erasmus' medal. He had painted him in 1517 and already
executed a medallic self-portrait and a medal of his sister-in-law.
Erasmus is known to have been highly pleased by the likeness on the
medal, comparing it favourably to Albrecht Dürer's widely
circulated portrait
print.
Erasmus sent
examples of his medal to many of his network of humanist scholars
in Europe. In 1528 he explained the significance of the reverse
(back) to Alfonso Valdes, secretary to Emperor Charles V. The
smiling bust of the god Terminus apparently utters the words
'I yield to no-one', an image which receives an
additional gloss in the second inscription: 'Consider the
end of a long life - death is the ultimate end of things'.
Erasmus wrote that 'out of a profane god [Terminus] I have
made myself a symbol exhorting decency in life. For death is the
real terminus that yields to no one.'
L. Smolderen, The currency of fame: portra-6 (New York, 1994)