Inname van Antwerpen 1585

This bronze medal commemorating the capture of Antwerp was made in the Netherlands at an unknown date by an anonymous artist. It testifies to the social and political turmoil of the early modern period. The medal depicts the siege of Antwerp, an event in the Eighty Years' War, when the Spanish army besieged and captured the city, which was then a major center of trade and Protestantism. We see this clash of ideologies in the medal itself: the iconography would have been intended to justify the victory in the eyes of the Spanish crown, but the event was perceived very differently by the Dutch. To understand this artwork better, one might explore archives of period publications, like pamphlets and news sheets, to find out more about the Dutch revolt from the perspective of its own time. The meaning of this artwork is contingent on the social and institutional context in which it was made and received.