Ghana – 2020 – 10 Cedis – 500th Anniversary Raphael

Description

2020 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of a famous Italian painter and architect Raphael. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino was one of three undisputed masters at the apogee of High Renaissance. In circa 1513-1514, this well-known artist created his masterpiece – the «Madonna della Seggiola». It portrays Mary embracing the child Christ, while the
young John the Baptist devoutly watches. Hundreds of tourists come to the Palazzo Pitti to see the beauty of this painting, but now it is immortalized on our coin!

The coin is dedicated to «Madonna della Seggiola» and perfectly depicts it. Thanks to the digital printing technique, it was managed to render the painting on the reverse of the coin as realistic as possible. The coin’s obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Raphael’s famous Cherubs (detail of the Sistine
Madonna) on the bottom. In 1858, Nathaniel Hawthorne called this painting “the most beautiful picture in the world” after having seen it through “a hundred engravings and copies”. The mintage is limited to only 500 pieces for global distribution.