Leone Leoni, Scudo da soldi 110 in Silver of the Habsburg King, Charles V

Leone Leoni (Arezzo, circa 1509 - Milan, 1590), Scudo da soldi 110 in Silver of the Habsburg King, Charles V of Spain (1516-1556), Emperor (1519-1556)

Sculptor, carver, engraver and chief engraver of the mints of Rome (1538-1540), Milan (1542-1545), Parma and Piacenza (1546-1547) and then again Milan from 1548, Leone Leoni was commissioned by the government of Charles V with minting a coin commemorating the imperial victory over the Protestant Schmalkaldic league, led by Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony at the battle of Mühlberg (1547), also known as the "battle of the Giants". The obverse portrays the profile bust of Charles V wearing armour, in slight torsion and facing right. The reverse represents the final stages of the clash between Jupiter, top, sitting on an eagle in the act of hurling thunderbolts, and a group of Titans below, lying defeated among the rocks. The obverse portrait is an original adaptation of compositional schemes already in use during Imperial Roman times. For the complex representation on the reverse the artist assimilated the lessons of Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, brilliantly adapting the composition to the requirements of the occasion and the size of the medium, after a number of test castings.