The Bank of Latvia has released a new collector’s coin to celebrate the 150^th birthday of Latvian painter Jānis Rozentāls.

According to the Bank of Latvia website, Jānis Rozentāls (1866 – 1916) was “one of the most important shapers of national art” in Latvia, and “Rozentāls became the most versatile artist of the turn of the 20th century, a popular and skillful portrait painter, a modern and enthusiastic proponent of the new aesthetic principles, whose creative activities influenced the development of painting, graphic and book art, theory and criticism of art.”

The coin depicts Rozentāls’ painting “Princese ar pērtiķi” (The Princess and the Monkey) from 1913, and the contemporary interpretation of the painting is “as an allegory for an artist’s dependence on society or art, which like a dominating mistress is playing with her servant.”

The silver proof quality coin has a mintage of 7000 and has a face value of 5 euro. The coin was struck by Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt (The Netherlands), using a graphic design by Sandra Krastiņā and plaster model by Jānis Strupulis.

A video about the coin (in Latvian with English subtitles) can be viewed here.

For further information, please visit the Bank of Latvia’s Collector’s Coin page.