Maximilien

A rare German Renaissance medallion in the antique manner, this brooch belongs to the great tradition of the portrait medal, born in Antiquity and reinvented by humanist Europe.

During the Renaissance, this genre experienced a true revival, driven by the emergence of a new secular individualism and by a renewed interest in classical civilisations. In Italy, the earliest medals were produced in bronze, lead, pewter, silver or gold, using the lost-wax casting technique. In Germany, sculptors appear to have favoured models carved in wood and stone.

Within the vast Habsburg Empire, the art of the medal became especially prized in the sixteenth century. It was distinguished by portraits of exacting verism, but also by the close relationship between artists and their patrons. For certain sculptors, executing a medal in honour of a patron thus became an opportunity to assert their own renown.

Inspired by ancient cameos and intaglios, they vied in technical mastery and invention, particularly in the rare medallion portraits carved in boxwood, of which very few examples have survived the centuries.

What once belonged to the realm of the humanist portrait now rests upon the body.
Maximilien is an Elevation Jewel .