Huwelijk van Koningin Wilhelmina met Hendrik van Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1901 1901

This bronze commemorative coin marking the marriage of Queen Wilhelmina to Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1901 by Lambertus Franciscus Edema van der Tuuk is such a curiosity. I keep imagining the artist, hunched over, carefully carving away at the metal, thinking about how to immortalize this royal union. On one side, we have these stoic profiles, regal and distant; then flip it, and BAM, there's a lion with a woman perched on top, looking like she's about to crown some heraldic shield. It's the symbolic language of power and dynasty all right! I wonder, did van der Tuuk feel any pressure to get it just right? I'm so curious about what other artists working at the time thought of it. Making official art is always a tricky balancing act between tradition, innovation, and pure propaganda. Anyway, it's such an odd little thing. I love it.