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Guillaume Dupré (ca. 1579-1640)
HENRI IV, KING OF FRANCE (b. 1553; r. 1589-1610), and MARIE DE’ MEDICI (1575-1642; Queen Consort of France 1600-10, Queen regent of France 1610-14)
Dated 1603
Bronze cast; 62 mm
Slightly deformed flan
Obverse: Jugate busts of Henri in highly decorated armor with a sash and the Cross of the Order of the Holy Spirit on a ribbon around his neck and Marie wearing a high lace collar and elaborately coiffed hair with a rose-shape jewel. Inscriptions: HENR(icus) IIII R(ex) CHRIST(ianissimus) MARIA AVGVSTA (The most Christian King Henri IV; Marie, august queen); below truncation, G(uillaume) DVPRE F(ecit) (Guillaume Dupré made it); on truncation, 1603.
Reverse: The couple as Mars and Minerva with the dauphin as a naked boy between; the king wearing a Roman cuirass and an ancient sword at his waist; the queen in antique drapery with ornamented breastplate and plumed helmet; the dauphin holding his father’s helmet and resting his right foot on the head of a dolphin, behind which is a shield and a spear; above, an eagle with a crown in its beak. Inscriptions: PROPAGO IMPERI (royal offering); in exergue, 1603.
This medal commemorates the second birthday of the Dauphin of France, the future Louis XIII. The reverse composition and legend are based on a Roman coin of Plautilla, wife of Caracalla (ca. AD 202). The king was so pleased with Dupré’s medal that he gave him a ten-years monopoly on the images to be replicated and sold as many times as he liked.
