Penning met het portret van koning Odoaker en de namen van Italiaanse koningen 1704 - 1720

Editor: So, this print is called "Penning met het portret van koning Odoaker en de namen van Italiaanse koningen," made sometime between 1704 and 1720 by an anonymous artist. It’s an engraving. What strikes me is how it blends the portrait in the center with this almost clock-like arrangement of names and dates around the edge. It feels like a visual history lesson… a little overwhelming actually! What do you make of it? Curator: Overwhelming, yes, like trying to cram the entirety of the Roman Empire onto a biscuit. What you're seeing is this delightful blend of history, artistry, and propaganda, really. It’s from that fascinating period when folks were trying to piece together a grand narrative, and engravings were a key tool for sharing that. Odoacer, you see, the chap in the middle, he was a pretty big deal - essentially the barbarian who ended the Western Roman Empire. Then, you’ve got those names circling him. Are those all the kings? Editor: I think so, the title says “names of Italian kings.” Curator: Exactly, like beads on a string! See how the artist attempts to link these names with specific dates and symbols. It's trying to present history in a manageable, even calculable, form, turning messy reality into ordered data. Sort of like a historical spreadsheet, before spreadsheets existed. I wonder though... with those skull images interspersing the Royal crowns, are they reminding us of more than just Kings?! Editor: True. Almost as if Kings were, literally, signing their own death warrants? I hadn't considered that... Wow. I do appreciate that this engraver made the information digestible – and is using both words and iconography to convey that history. Curator: And to create a certain *impression* of it. Who chose which king to include in this “history lesson”? The image itself becomes an argument, which might be the most compelling thing here. Thank you for looking at it in that way; history isn't always simple, even on a 'coin'!