Margaret von Firmian, 1509-1536, Wife of Caspar von Frundsberg

Art Historical Context

This finely cast lead medal by Friedrich Hagenauer portrays Margaret von Firmian at age twenty, three years after her marriage to Caspar von Frundsberg. Created in 1529, the small roundel exemplifies the Renaissance revival of ancient Roman coinage as a means of commemorating living individuals. Hagenauer, one of the most accomplished German medallists of the period, worked primarily in Augsburg and produced hundreds of such portraits for members of the nobility, clergy, and merchant elite. The choice of lead allowed for crisp detail and relatively inexpensive replication, making these medals popular diplomatic gifts and tokens of alliance. An old after-cast, this example preserves the sensitive modeling of Margaret’s profile—her neatly plaited hair and high-necked gown—while the reverse likely once bore the Frundsberg arms or an allegorical device now worn by time. Such portraits served both personal and political functions, linking the sitter’s identity to the prestige of classical antiquity. Today the medal offers a rare glimpse into the lives of early-sixteenth-century noblewomen whose stories are often overshadowed by their husbands’ military exploits. Housed in the National Gallery of Art’s Samuel H. Kress Collection, it continues to testify to the enduring appeal of portraiture as a vehicle for memory and status.

About the Artist

Friedrich Hagenauer · 1490–1546

Friedrich Hagenauer (c. 1490–c. 1546) was a German sculptor and medallist of the Northern Renaissance whose finely wrought portrait medals and carved reliefs placed him among the most accomplished practitioners of his craft in early sixteenth-century Germany. The details of his early life and training remain incompletely documented, but he is believed to have been born in Strasbourg and to have re...