Overlijden van Maria II van Engeland 1695

This silver medal commemorating the death of Mary II of England was produced by Jan Luder, likely shortly after her death in 1694. It’s an interesting example of how the image of a monarch was carefully constructed and circulated in the late 17th century. On one side, we see a bust of Mary, every bit the regal figure. Flip the medal, though, and we see a symbolic representation of the grieving Dutch Republic, seated amongst emblems of state. The inscription reads ‘Grief of the Netherlands’. The medal encapsulates the complex political landscape of the time, Mary was the wife of William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who became King of England. Such an object would have circulated among political and economic elites, reinforcing the relationship between the monarchy and the state. These kinds of objects tell us a lot about the intersection of art, power, and national identity in the early modern period. We can learn more through archival research, studying similar commemorative objects, and understanding the political climate of the time.