3rd Plate, Featuring 10 Coins Issued by European Princes in the 16th and 17th centuries, from Les Monnaies (The Currencies)

Art Historical Context

This etching, the third plate from Jacques Callot and Israel Silvestre’s series *Les Monnaies* (The Currencies), presents ten coins issued by European princes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Created around 1630, the print uses the etching medium to capture precise inscriptions, heraldic devices, and portraits that adorned these small metal objects. Callot, celebrated for his command of fine linear detail, and Silvestre collaborated to translate three-dimensional coins into a flat, accessible format suitable for study and appreciation. In the early modern period, such illustrated compilations reflected growing interest in numismatics as both a scholarly pursuit and a record of political authority. Each coin served as a miniature emblem of sovereignty, trade, and dynastic alliances across fragmented European states. By reproducing them at actual or enlarged scale, the artists preserved fragile historical evidence while inviting viewers to examine the craftsmanship of minting alongside the messages of power the coins conveyed. Housed today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the sheet demonstrates how printmaking democratized access to rare artifacts, allowing collectors and scholars far from royal treasuries to study the material culture of Europe’s ruling houses.

About the Artist

Jacques Callot|Israel Silvestre · 1592–1635

Jacques Callot (1592–1635) was a French printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine, widely regarded as one of the first great artists to practice the graphic arts exclusively. His more than 1,400 etchings chronicled the breadth of 17th-century life, from Medici court festivities to the brutal realities of warfare. Callot revolutionized etching through technical innovations including the é...