San Marino · 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci

Issue date4 Apr 2019

Total mintage55,650

EU maximum60,500

Editions2

Edge lettering2 ★ × 6, alternately upright/inverted

InscriptionSAN MARINO / 1519 Leonardo 2019 / UP / R

DesignerUliana Pernazza

mintInstituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, Roma

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. The design features an angel painted by him from the work “Baptism of Christ”, accompanied by the inscriptions “SAN MARINO” and “1519 Leonardo 2019”.

The design

The coin design features an angel painted by Leonardo da Vinci from the work “The Baptism of Christ”. Along the inner rim of the coin, “SAN MARINO” is inscribed on the left and “1519 Leonardo 2019” on the right. The mark of the artist Uliana Pernazza, UP, is also located on the left, and the letter R, the mark of the Rome Mint, is at the bottom right.

The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the outer ring of the coin.

Background on the topic

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 near the Tuscan town of Vinci. He worked as a painter, draughtsman, sculptor, engineer and natural scientist. After his training in Florence, he worked, among other places, in Milan and Rome, and lastly at the court of the French King Francis I (Franz I.). His surviving notebooks contain studies on anatomy, mechanics, optics, the movement of water and architecture. Many of his technical designs remained theoretical investigations; as an artist, he had a formative influence on Renaissance painting above all through his precise observation of nature and his depiction of light, space and bodies.

The “Baptism of Christ” (“Taufe Christi”) was created in the workshop of the Florentine painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio, under whom Leonardo trained. The painting, now held in the Uffizi (Uffizien) in Florence, is considered a collaborative work by Verrocchio and several workshop assistants. Leonardo is particularly credited with one of the two kneeling angels and parts of the landscape. The angel differs from other sections of the painting through softer transitions between light and shadow and a more spatially convincing design. The work thus also documents Leonardo’s transition from workshop apprentice to independent artist.

Depicted is the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist (Johannes der Täufer) in the Jordan, as described in the New Testament. Above Christ appear the dove as a sign of the Holy Spirit and the hands of God. The angels at the edge of the painting are not the actual focus of the biblical narrative, but have received particular attention in art history because the different working methods within the workshop can be recognised in them.

Leonardo died at the Château du Clos Lucé (Schloss Clos Lucé) near Amboise in France. The anniversary year was also marked outside Italy with exhibitions and commemorative issues. For San Marino, it provided an occasion to commemorate a figure of the Italian Renaissance whose work extends beyond the political and cultural history of individual states. The choice of a detail from a work rather than a conventional portrait places Leonardo’s activity as a painter at the forefront.