Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 578, San Marino, 500th Anniversary of Death of Leonardo Da Vinci
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 578, San Marino, 500th Anniversary of Death of Leonardo Da Vinci
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 578, San Marino, 500th Anniversary of Death of Leonardo Da Vinci, Coincard
Description

On May 2, 2019, Italy and the world honor the day, 500 years ago, when Leonardo da Vinci died.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (1452–1519), more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance, whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, he epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal.

Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts.

Obverse

Depicts a detail of the oil painting The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci, surrounded by the country name, the name “Leonardo” between the year of Leonardo’s death and the year of issue. In the right bottom field the mint mark R, in the right middle engraver's initials. Around the outer ring the 12 stars of the European Union.

The Baptism of Christ is a painting finished around 1475 in the studio of the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea del Verrocchio and generally ascribed to him and his pupil Leonardo da Vinci. Some art historians discern the hands of other members of Verrocchio's workshop in the painting as well.

The picture depicts the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist as recorded in the Biblical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The angel to the left is recorded as having been painted by the youthful Leonardo, a fact which has excited so much special comment and mythology, that the importance and value of the picture as a whole and within the œuvre of Verrocchio is often overlooked. The painting is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Engraver: Uliana Pernazza

SAN MARINO • 1519 LEONARDO 2019
UP R

Reverse

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

2 EURO
LL

Edge

The sequence "2 ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted

2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★ 2 ★

Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Cupronickel
Center Nickel Brass
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 25.75 mm
Thickness 2.2 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Italian State Mint and Polygraphic Institute (IPZS)

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500th Anniversary of Death of Leonardo Da Vinci

Bi-Metallic, 8.5 g, ⌀ 25.75 mm