San Marino

2016

Commemorative coin

550th anniversary of the death of Donatello

Official Journal of the European Union

The design depicts, in the foreground on the left, a portrait of David, being a detail of the bronze sculpture by Donatello. At centre top, the mintmark ‘R’; on the right, the name of the issuing country ‘SAN MARINO’; at bottom right, the inscription ‘Donatello’, the dates ‘1466-2016’ and, in the centre, the initials of the artist ‘MB’. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

The coin depicts the face of the bronze statue of David created around 1440 by the Italian sculptor of the Florentine Renaissance for Cosimo de' Medici. He is youthful, radiating harmonious grace and playful lightness, depicted wearing a laurel-wreathed hat and placing his foot playfully on the head of Goliat. It is the earliest free-standing nude figure since antiquity, today in the Museum Bargello in Florence.

Edge lettering

Designer