SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 



The enormous upsurt^e which occurred in numis- 

 matics during the 16th century — ilkistratcd here 

 throus^h only a few saHcnt examples — continued to 

 increase steadily during the 17th century. As a 

 science, numismatics had outgrown its childhood. 

 The sometimes naive approach of the early 150()s, 

 with their fictitious representations, tended now to be 

 re[)laccd. Broader knowledge of numismatic ma- 

 terial availal>le in hundreds of collections in every 

 civUized country contriinited to more mature and 

 exact interpretation. The general tendency during 

 the 17th centmy was an interest in registering as 

 much unknown material as possible. Thus, the 

 publication of catalogs of collections was given special 

 attention. 



Also during the 160f)s, the development of most of 

 the famous coin cabinets of pAiropc took a decisive 

 u]3ward turn. France, through a series of favoralilc 

 circumstances, became the leading country in this 

 regard. At least two famous collections from this 

 period should i)e mentioned. 



Gaston, Duke of Orl<-ans (d. 1660) and Ijrother of 

 Louis XII 1, owned at his residence, the Palais de 

 Luxembourg, an outstanding collection, which he 

 housed in six cabinets. He spared neither effort nor 

 expense to obtain rare pieces from Italy and Greece, 

 and he considered his collection important enough to 

 bequeath to his ne[)hew, Louis XIV. Surprisingly, 

 the Sun King found more than transitory interest in 

 it and, ad\ised by his Finance Minister Colbert, he 

 built the collection into one of the most outstanding 

 coin cabinets in Europe. 



Adding it to the caijinet previously set up bv 

 Henry IV, Louis increased the collection through 

 continuous acquisitions. He had the cabinet mcned 

 into the j)alace of the Louvre, entrusting it to the care 

 of Pierre de Craca\i, a friend of the philosopher 

 Blaise Pascal. French missionaries and ambassadors 

 in Italy, Greece, and the Orient received special 

 orders from the king to be on the lookout for ancient 

 coins. During this time, serving as his chief agent 

 was Jean Foy Vaillant (1632 1706), a name which 

 was to remain associated with numismatics for cen- 

 turies. Commissioned by Colbert to search for coins 

 in foreign countries, Vaillant \isited Italy, Sicily, 

 Greece, and even Persia and Egypt. Once, ijad 

 fortune brought him into the hands of pirates in 

 Algeria: in order to save some gold pieces, he did 



not hesitate to swallow them: at least, this is the story 

 he later told a friend.'- 



Through \'aillant's profound knowledge of the 

 suijject and his relentless drive, many interesting coins 

 came into the royal collection. A dedicated scholar, 

 he also [)ublished many works on ancient numismatics 

 covering a variety of subjects, from the coins of the 

 Seleucides, Ptolemies, and Arsacides to the popular 

 field of Roman coins." The most noteworthy among 

 his publications was Numismata imperatnrum Rnmanorum 

 praeslanlma (1694). 



The French royal collection, thus enriched, became 

 one of the king's favorite pastimes. Because he 

 wanted it always located within his immediate reach, 

 he had the cabinet transfered in 1683 to Versailles. 

 Louis had the habit of visiting his collection daily, 

 dexoting much time and enthusiasm to the study 

 of coins. He remarked that he enjoyed doing it 

 iiecause he could always find something new to learn. 



To be custodian of the coins, the king hired a Swiss 

 numismatist and engraver Andre Morell (1646-1705), 

 who was assigned the task of publishing an inventory 

 of the collection. Morell, an exceptionally gifted 

 scholar and an excellent designer, conceived of his 

 work as a general synopsis (" recueil") of all existing 

 ancient coins in European collections. He intended 

 to accompany his descriptions with adequate draw- 

 ings. This plan, a revival of Lazius' "corpus" idea, 

 was doomed to failure, and Morell never succeeded 

 in fulfilling his dream. Moreover, the treatment 

 which he received in France was not exactly conducive 

 to promoting his work. Twice imprisoned in the 

 Bastille for his religious i)cliefs, he finally decided to 

 leave the country. When he was asked by the Prince 

 of Schwartzenberg and by the Prince Elector of 

 Brandenburg to arrange their collections, Morell 

 departed in 1691 and spent the rest of his life in 

 Germany. 



'Ihe major collections of the period find their best 

 descri]3tions in the prefaces which Vaillant, a contem- 

 porary of Morell, added to his voluminous work. 

 In these pages he usually listed the chief cabinets he 

 had consulted during his trips through various 

 countries. From them we can obtain a fairly good 

 idea of numismatics as a hol)l)y in that age. Among 



■ Babelon, Trailf, vol. 1, col. 138. 



' Sec the list of his works in Babelon, Traill, vol. l,col. 142. 



22 



BULLETIN 229: C:OXTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .AND TECHNOLOGY 



