Vatican

2021

Commemorative coin

The 450th anniversary of the birth of Caravaggio

Official Journal of the European Union

The design features a boy with a basket of fruits, painted by Caravaggio. At the top, in semi-circle, is the name of the issuing country ‘CITTA’ DEL VATICANO’. At the left is the mintmark ‘R’. At the bottom is the inscription ‘CARAVAGGIO’ and underneath are the years ‘1571-2021’. At the bottom right are the initials of the artist Chiara Principe, ‘CP’. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

After the one already issued by San Marinos, this is the second commemorative coin for the 450th birthday of Michelangelo Merisis da Caravaggio (1571-1610). The Italian painter of the early Baroque period with his realistic pictorial design is considered - together with Annibale Carracci - to have overcome Mannerism and to be the founder of Roman Baroque painting. His most important painting innovation was the chiaroscuro, the chiaroscuro painting. Chiara Principe chose the painting Fanciullo con canestro di frutta (Boy with Fruit Basket), created by Caravaggio in 1593, as the motif for the coin she designed, today in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The model was the 16-year-old Mario Minniti, later himself a Baroque painter in Sicily. The masterfully depicted fruit offers a mirror of the horticulture of the time, right down to the pests that left their mark on fruit and leaves. In addition to grapes of different colours, apples and figs, there are (from left to right) small pears on a branch, a peach overflowing with light red, two medlars, red seeds of a broken pomegranate and two quinces depicted, together with dark peach leaves, vine leaves and two stalks with mint leaves.

Edge lettering

Designer