AUSTRIA. Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian II, Emperor, 1564-1576. Medal 1548 (Bronze, 46 mm, 43.00 g, 12 h), by J. Deschler (1500-1571), but an old aftercast. ✱•MAXIMILIAN•V•G•G•ERTZHERTZOG ZV OSTERREICH Z8•ÆTATIS SVÆ:ZO // 1548 Draped bust of Maximilian II to left. Rev. Crowned coat of arms within Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Habich 1575. Lanna III, 715 var. (in gilt silver). Extremely rare. Slightly cleaned, some deposits and a flan fault on the edge, otherwise, very fine.



This medal shows a portrait of Maximilian II in the year of his wedding with his cousin Maria, daughter of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), which took place on 13 September 1548. Orchestrated by Charles V himself, the union was intended to strengthen the bonds between the Austrian and Spanish branches of the Habsburg dynasty. At the same time, Charles appointed the young couple as regents of Spain during his absence - a strategic move designed to ‘Hispanicize’ Maximilian II and steer him more firmly toward Catholicism, given his known sympathies for Protestant ideas.

Maximilian II, however, resisted these attempts at religious re-education. Nevertheless, his marriage to the devoutly Catholic Maria was, by all accounts, a remarkably happy one, producing fifteen children and enduring with genuine affection.

The medal is the work of Joachim Deschler, a masterful artist originally active in Nuremberg who later moved to Vienna in the late 1550s. There, under Maximilian II, he was appointed as Kaiserlicher Hofbildhauer (‘Imperial Court Sculptor’ in German). Deschler earned the emperor’s admiration through works exactly like this medal. Few artists of his era could so seamlessly blend the refined style of the Italian Renaissance with the distinctive traditions of German medallic art.