Brothers Johann and Cornelius de Witt, the grand pensionary and the deputy in the Netherlands armed forces, were brutally executed for their alleged disloyalty to Prince William III during the Rampjaar, or “disaster year,” of 1672. This medal’s obverse depicts the profiles of both brothers and the reverse shows a multi-headed beast eating the brothers’ half-dead bodies. The gruesome scene refers to their actual murders, in which they were lynched by an angry mob. Manufactured posthumously, the medal served as a memorial for the two brothers.
Object Description
253 JOHANN (1625-72) and CORNELIUS (1623-72) DE WITT
Obv. Two busts confronted. Around, CORNELIVS . DE . WITT . NAT . A . 1623 * lOHANNES DE WITT . NAT . A 1625 | SCELERIS = QVE PVRVS INTEGER VITAE; below bust of Cornelius, AVRY, below Johann, FEC; on scroll below busts, HIC ARMIS ILLE TOGA | MAXIMVS
Rev. Brothers consumed by many-headed allegorical beast, framed in a wreath of thorns entwined with ribbon inscribed, MENS | AGITAT | MOLEM | ET MAGNO . | SE COR | PORE | MISCET. At left, AVRY . F . ; around, * NUNC REDEUNT . ANIMIS INGENTIA CONSULIS . ACTA * ET FORMIDATI . SCEPTRIS ORACLA MINISTRI; in exergue, NOBILE PAR FRATRVM SAEVO | FVROR ORE TRVCIDAT . | XXAVGVSTI .
Silver, struck, 67 mm.
As leader of the Republican party, Johann de Witt was in effect the leader of the union of the Netherlands from 1653-72, a period of great prosperity. However, when Louis XIV invaded Holland in 1672, Johann and his brother Cornelius were hacked to pieces in a riot at the Hague provoked by the supporters of William of Orange (later William III of England). The medal has also been attributed to Reinier Arondeaux (W. Meijer, "G. H. Schuller, het Swart Toneel-Gordijn en de penning met het veelhoofdig monster," De Navorscher [1900], pp. 57-69) . Gay van der Meer (private communication) has suggested that on stylistic grounds the medal could be by Christoffel Adolphi, but that neither attribution has any proof.
Bibl.: Houston, no. 349; Forrer i, p. 94 (as F. Avry); 7, p. 34 (as P. Aury); Hill-Historical, no. 54; Van Loon 3, p. 81 (ill.), p. 82, no. i; MM. 2, pp. 87-88, pl. 120, 3 (unsigned).
