(b Amsterdam, 1608; d Amsterdam, after 1677). Dutch medallist. One of the foremost Dutch medallists of the 17th century, he was influential in developing a style that was more sculptural than before. Most of his medals consist of two silver plates of repoussé work, chased and joined together at the rim to create a hollow medal. This novel technique allowed the artist to create portraits in very high relief. His medals date from the late 1640s to the 1670s. One of the earliest, probably of 1647, portrays on one side Prince Frederick Henry of Orange and on the other Prince Maurice of Orange. More usually, the reverses of his medals bear a coat of arms, as for example the medal commemorating the settlement of the disputes between William II of Orange and the States of Holland (1650). Here the reverse bears William’s armorial shield, a crown, and the English garter. The ground of the obverse is covered with orange branches in the manner typical of van Abeele and demonstrates his mastery of chasing. On his medal of Admiral Maarten Tromp (1653) the armorial reverse incorporates a scene from a naval battle. On others, such as the well-known medals commemorating the departure of Charles II for Britain from Scheveningen (1660), with their grim portrait of the King on the obverse, the scene occupies the whole of the reverse. On these medals the reverse is usually of a small-scale figurative type popular in Dutch medals, but executed with a vigour that is van Abeele’s own. He also devised allegorical reverses, such as the charming marriage medal in which a couple on the obverse and a figure of Motherhood on the reverse are surrounded by garlands of flowers.

• Abeele, Pieter van
  • Medal, §II, 3(iii): 17th and 18th centuries: The Netherlands