Struck gold medal of James I of
England (VI of Scotland) by Nicholas Hilliard
London, England, AD 1604
Peace with Spain
Although Nicholas Hilliard is so closely
associated with the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), his work at
court continued under the Stuart James I (reigned 1603-25), who, in
1617, granted him the sole right to produce portraits of the royal
family and called him 'our well-beloved servant Nicholas
Hilliard, gentleman, our principal drawer for the small portraits
and embosser of our medallions of gold'. Hilliard profited
from this privilege, leasing out his designs to other artists,
until his death in January
1619.
Other payments made
by James I to Hilliard show that the artist made a number of very
expensive medals in precious metals for the King and his court.
Only one can be identified. It is very likely that this is one of
the 'certain medallions to the number of twelve in
gold' paid for in December 1604, a gold medal struck to
commemorate peace with Spain. The reverse shows the female
personifications
of Peace, holding a palm branch and a
cornucopia,
and Religion, who carries a beacon and a
cross.
The combined weight
of these twelve medals is documented. Divided equally, though, it
does not accord exactly with the weight of this medal. This
difference can be explained, however, by the probability that some
of these pieces had decorative borders, a common feature of
Jacobean medals. The medal also closely resembles
Hilliard's painted miniatures of
James.
C. Barclay and L. Syson, 'A medal die rediscovered: a new work by Nicholas Hilliard', The Medal-3, 22 (Spring 1993), pp. 3-9
E. Hawkins, Medallic illustrations of the (London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1885)