Fig. 13. — ^Jacobi's de Strada (1505-1588), 

 Italian amiquarian, in a painting by Titian 

 (photo courtesy Kunsthistorischcs Museum, 

 Vienna). 



the Saxon Princes in Dresden (which were in\cntoricd 

 by Tobias Rciilcl in 1587) and those of the Dukes of 

 Gottorp in Kassel. 



In Brandenburs;, accordina; to irnditioii, thi' Prince 

 Elector Joachim II (1 535-1 .S71) established tiic Berlin 

 numismatic cabinet, which was later enlarged con- 

 siderabK- under IVederick the Great."''' It is possible 

 that such cultural [ireoccitpation at Joachim's court 

 was slitiuilated by Clount Rochus Gucrini, an archi- 

 tect who came from Florence via Paris. 



In Italy, especially in Rome and Florence, coin 

 collections were to be found in the palaces of the 

 nobilits : the Farneses, the Barberinis, the Massimis, 

 and the Ottobonis. Equally famous were the collec- 

 tions asseml)led by nephews of the popes: Antonio 

 Conduhuerio, C^ardinal of St. Mark's; .Messandro 



•>« Friedlaender and .Sallet, Das konigliche Miinzkabinet, 

 pp. 12-18; Menadier, Die Sckaiisamrnlung, p. 1. 



Cardinal Farnese: and Filippo Cardinal Buoncom- 

 pagni.'" The well-known scholar and maecenas 

 Fulvio Orsini (1529-1600), at his death, left 70 £?old, 

 1,900 siher, and over 500 bronze coins, the majority of 

 which he bequeathed to Odoardo Cardinal Farnese. 

 Pope Urban VII in 1628 made a gift of 600 silver 

 coins to his nephew Francesco Cardinal Barberini. 

 The beginnings of the numismatic collection of the 

 Vatican can also he traced to this period — about 

 1555 — during the Pontificate of Marcellus II.'''* 



In Spain, through Philip II (1556-1598), a noted 

 art lover, many collections were brought to the 

 Escorial,''^ among them the coins of Antonio Agustin, 

 Bishop of Lerida and Archbishop of Tarragona, con- 

 sidered by many as the father of Spanish numis- 

 matics."'' His fame was based on his work Didlogos de 

 mfdailas, inscripciones y otras antigiiedades, published by 

 Felipe Mey in Tarragona in 1587 and translated a 

 few years later into Italian — / discursi del S. Don 

 Antonio Agoslini sopra le medaglie et altre anticaglie (1592). 



A Dutch scholar, Abraham van Goorle (1 549-1609), 

 author of a treatise on Roman coins — Thesaurus niimis- 

 }naliim romanorum sive numrni ad Jamilias romanas 

 spctiantes (1605) — assembled a collection of 4,000 gold, 

 10,000 silver, and over 15,000 bronze coins. These 

 e\entually came into the hands of Charles I of Eng- 

 land. The famous "Juxon Medal" handed o\'er to 

 the Archbishop by Charles on the scaffold is often 

 mentioned as evidence of the King's fondness for rare 

 coins. His collection, after many peregrinations 

 during the civil wars, ended up in Sweden in Queen 

 Christina's cabinet. 



In France the coin collection which Catherine de 

 Medicis (1519-1589), wife of Henry II of France, 

 brought with her from Italy met a similar fate: these 

 coins, inherited by her son Charles of France (1560- 

 1574), were scattered during the religious wars. 

 \\ iihin a few decades, however, an even better collec- 

 tion was assembled by King Henry IV (1589-1610). 

 A French gentleman, Pierre Antoinc de Bagarris, was 

 assigned the task of acquiring coins for the royal 

 collection, which was eventually to become the famous 

 Paris coin cabinet. 



'" I'or the history of the Vatican coUertions, sec Ser.\fini. Le 

 monele del Mrdnolicre Valicano, vol. 1, introd. 



«" Ibid., pp. XV-XVII. 



'" Garcia de l.\ 1"i:ente, Biblioteca de San Lorenzo de el Esco- 

 riat (1935). 



'•" For the collection of Father .Agustin, sec Mateu y Llopis, 

 "Un invcntari numismatic del scglc XVI" (1929-1932); for 

 the life of Father Agustin, see Lopez, "Iconografia di .Antonio 

 Agustin" (1952), and Rivero, Don Antonio Agustin (1945). 



20 



BULLETIN 229: CO.NTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



