Karel II, koning van Spanje, rekenpenning geslagen op last van de Staten van Brabant 1669

Editor: This is an engraving from 1669, depicting Karel II, King of Spain, commissioned by the States of Brabant. It's rendered on metal, this small coin. It feels so... tactile and old, somehow weighty, even just seeing a photograph of it. What do you see in it? Curator: Well, beyond its heft—which I totally get, you almost feel its coolness, don’t you? It speaks of power, doesn't it? The formal portraiture, the heraldry, but there's something else there too. These weren’t just commemorative objects, they were active participants in a really fraught political landscape. You know, kind of like a proto-meme in a very different context. What do you make of that? Editor: Proto-meme, that's funny! So, it's Baroque, but it's also… practical? Curator: Exactly! Think about it. This image, multiplied across hundreds, maybe thousands of coins, entering circulation. It’s carefully designed to convey very specific messages to a broad audience. Like, look at the relief - very detailed for something so small. What kind of person was expected to understand this language? Editor: Someone with status and probably political awareness, I imagine. But not necessarily aristocracy, or clergy, maybe? Curator: Precisely! Now, doesn’t that change how we see the work? Makes it so much more alive than just ‘another coin’, right? Like history buzzing on a metal disc. Editor: Absolutely! I'll never look at a coin the same way again, really. I appreciate seeing it as an artifact of political discourse. Thank you for illuminating all this! Curator: My pleasure entirely! It's these little windows into the past that remind us how much stories objects hold.