Medal commemorating the Capture of Valencia in Italy (La Prise de Valence en Italie)

Louis Simonneau

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print reproduces the front and back of a medal struck to commemorate a French victory over the Spanish during a battle fought in the Po Valley near Milan in 1656. Various versions of this medal exist, all designed by the medalist Jean Mauger. The front of the medal contains a portrait en profil of the young King Louis XIV, while the verso shows the figure of Minerva overpowering a female figure, likely the personification of the conquered city. The images of the medal are struck from a different smaller plate, set within a larger composition that also contains a historic description of the battle. The text and images are presented in a frame decorated with armorial trophies and the monogram and coat of arms of the French king.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art