Inname van Douai 1710

This silver medal, commemorating the ‘Inname van Douai,’ was created by Martin Brunner, an artist active around the turn of the 18th century. Such medals, like other forms of popular print, helped to disseminate particular interpretations of events to a wide audience. Here, Brunner’s medal celebrates the capture of Douai, likely during the War of the Spanish Succession. The imagery on the medal casts this event as a triumph of virtue over weakness. The figure of Virtus, armed and upright, is contrasted to that of a defeated and disarmed figure representing Douai on the front of the medal. While on the reverse we see an image of the captured city of Douai. This medal demonstrates the power of images to shape public opinion and legitimize political actions. To truly understand this artwork, one must consult historical records, political tracts, and other artifacts of the period, and to consider the institutions through which these images were circulated.