Medallic Portraits "à l’antique" of the French Kings before Louis XIV

The early medallic production of French Kings was hardly systematic: it was not until the reign of Henry IV that the idea of histoire métallique took shape, and even then it was not fully realized. However, even the early medals provide us with interesting examples of a well-premeditated programme and a propagandistic dimension. One of the focal tendencies in the public image of the Renaissance kings was the adaptation of classical motifs and their inclusion into royal iconography. The paper analyses the classical elements present on the portrait medals of the French rulers before Louis XIV, their meanings, ancient analogies and sources.