Undated medal celebrating the marriage of Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian of Habsburg on 20 August 1477

Description

Giovanni Candida (before 1450 after 1504) came from the kingdom of Naples but worked as a secretary at the Burgundian court from 1472 to 1480. He was also a productive and influential medallist. He is presumed to have created this medal with the portraits of Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) and Maximilian of Habsburg (1459-1519) on the occasion of their marriage. The young couple are both modelled in life like busts facing right; Maximilian is wearing a cloak over a shirt, his head is adorned with a wreath and he has shoulder length hair. Mary's hair is plaited and caught into a bun; the two Ms beneath a crown at her neck refer to the union of the couple. Maximilian survived his first wife by 37 years; his marriage to her brought him and the Habsburgs the Burgundian Netherlands, which would remain in their possession for centuries. As Emperor Maximilian I he bequeathed on his death in 1519 to Mary's and his grandson Charles V an empire on which the sun never set. Maximilian's heart is buried in Mary's coffin, while his body lies in Wiener Neustadt.