From the Renaissance and onwards, the medal has been an important element of European art and visual culture. It was appreciated for its symbolic and material value. However, much of its signifificance lies in the fact that it affects multiple senses and not sight alone. The recipients can touch and hold it, wear it, trace the engraved portrait with their fingers, or place it in a cabinet drawer. How people engaged with medals and which significance this medium gained and lost unearths how early modern art and visual media were used over time. From the 16th to the 18th century, the medal changes shapes and meanings, inspires and assumes tendencies from other visual expressions, and one can trace European culture and politics through it.

This book gives broad insights into the development of the functions and practices associated with medals, offering new perspectives within a Northern European context. Drawing from visual as well as archival sources, combined with a long-term perspective analysis, the thesis presents a comprehensive case study on the phenomenon of medal art.

Ylva Haidenthaller is an art historian based in Uppsala and Vienna. She is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Art History and Visual Studies at Lund University. The Medal in Early Modern Sweden is her doctoral dissertation.

The book is CC-licensed and can freely be downloaded: