Holy Riders. Constantine the Great and the seals of Baldwin II

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Carpenter van Barthold, B. ORCID: 0000-0001-5014-1328, 2021. Holy Riders. Constantine the Great and the seals of Baldwin II. The Medal, Autumn (79), pp. 4-12. ISSN 0263-7707

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Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the Constantine medallion in the British Museum, probably created by the Limbourg brothers in 1402 for Jean, Duke of Berry. The analysis begins by demonstrating that there is no prototype for this remarkable image in the Western canon, and then by showing a compelling affinity between the obverse of this object and the sigillography of Baldwin, the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, on which it surely depends. This connection, which is presented here for the first time, is secured through considering: the political context of production; demonstrating that the seal of Baldwin was present in Paris in the early fifteenth century; demonstrating the importance of the material associated with the seal to the Valois court. This work supports and extends previous analyses of this object, long supposed to have been influenced by Byzantine prototypes, and suggests fruitful avenues of future inquiry into the political and ideological origins of the earliest cast medals in Europe.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

The Medal

Creators:

Carpenter van Barthold, B.

Publisher:

British Art Medal Trust

Date:

8 November 2021

Volume:

Autumn