Terechtstelling van Marie Antoinette

About this artwork

Schenking van mevrouw J.M. van Gelder-Nijhoff

Art Historical Context

Behold the poignant *Terechtstelling van Antoinette* (Execution of Marie Antoinette), struck medal crafted by Daniel Friedrich Loos 1793—the very year of the French queen's guillotining on October 16 the Reign of Terror. Measuring just 3 cm in diameter and weighing 9.36 grams, this diminutive bronze artifact captures a seismic moment of the French Revolution, when royal excess met revolutionary fury. Loos, a skilled German medallist, immortalized the event in intricate relief, likely portraying the scaffold scene to evoke both horror and triumph for contemporaries. Struck medals like this were a democratic art form in the Enlightenment era, enabling mass production via dies and hammers to spread political iconography far beyond elite circles. The technique's precision allowed fine details—the queen's dignified poise, the crowd's fervor—turning metal into a portable emblem of radical change. This piece, donated by Mrs. J.M. van Gelder-Nijhoff, underscores how such objets d'art bridged history's chaos with personal collections. In our virtual gallery, it whispers of an age upended, reminding visitors that even queens fall, and medals endure as witnesses to humanity's tumults.

About the Artist

Daniel Friedrich Loos · 1735–1819

Daniel Friedrich Loos (1735–1819) was a German medallist, engraver, and die-cutter who served as chief engraver and medalist for the Kingdom of Prussia during a crucial period of Prussian history. Born on June 15, 1735, in Altenburg and dying on October 1, 1819, in Berlin, Loos pursued an 84-year life that spanned from the reign of Frederick William I through the Napoleonic Wars and into the post-...