San Marino

2020

Commemorative coin

250th anniversary of the death of Giambattista Tiepolo

Official Journal of the European Union

The left part of the coin features the bust of an angel, a detail from Tiepolo’s painting ‘Angel Succouring Hagar’, which hangs in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice, and the initials of the designer Claudia Momoni ‘C.M.’. Above is the inscription ‘TIEPOLO’ and the letter ‘R’ identifying the Mint of Rome; on the right are the dates 1770 and 2020 and the inscription ‘San Marino’. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) was one of the most important Venetian painters of the late Baroque and Rococo periods, who particularly emphasised light and perspective. His work includes depictions of heroic epics, histories, opera scenes, feasts of the gods and also altars, where he enriched many of these paintings with putti and cupids. The coin depicts the moment when the angel sent by God saves Hagar and Ishmael, who are lost in the desert, by pointing them to a spring. The detail is taken from the painting Hagar and Ismael in the Desert, created in 1732, one of Tiepolo's absolute masterpieces, which is kept in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, an important Venetian brotherhood. It represents the counterpart to Tiepolo's Abraham and the Angels.

Edge lettering

Designer