Spotpenning over John Law en de actiehandel (aandelenhandel).
1720
Medium
striking (metalworking)
Dimensions
29.95; 4.4
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Zilveren penning. Voorzijde: John Law met schip en stuk papier met opschrift in hand staat naast grot waaruit halfnaakte oude vrouw (Medusa) te voorschijn komt, daarboven engel die op dubbele bazuin Law's lof blaast; afsnede: opschrift. Keerzijde: opschrift
Art Historical Context
### Spotpenning over John Law en actiehandel (Satirical Medal on John Law Stock Trading) This anonymous silver medal, struck in 1720, just 4.4 cm in diameter and weighs .95 grams, making a compact yet potent piece satirical commentary. On the obverse, John— the notorious Scottish financier—stands holding a ship and a paper with text, beside a cave from which a half-naked aged Medusa-like woman emerges. Above, an trumpets his praises on a double horn, with an exergue bearing further inscriptions. The reverse features only text, emphasizing the medal's pointed message. Crafted during the height of financial mania, this artwork skewers John Law's Mississippi Company scheme in France and the contemporaneous "actiehandel" (stock trading frenzy) that fueled bubbles like Britain's South Sea Company collapse. Medals like this were popular vehicles for public critique in the early 18th century, using allegory—Medusa evoking monstrous deception, the ship nodding to speculative ventures—to mock economic folly without words alone. As a struck metalwork, its fine relief captures intricate details, blending artistry with activism. Today, it reminds us how art has long pierced the veil of financial hype, offering a wry lesson in the perils of unchecked speculation.
About the Artist
anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...