The modern European elites, fascinated for Antiquity, found on the small metallic surface of medalthe possibility to emulate classical Rome in order to commemorate historical events, thus ensuring that they would be remembered for posterity. The striking of series of medals ex novo or the artificial placing in order of the pre-existing ones, thanks to collectors and the printing press, paved the way for so-called metallic histories, in which medals were the absolute protagonists of the historical account.
Rulers soon became aware of the potential that the medal offered them for disseminating the events that they wanted to be remembered. In this context medal makers created a language that borrowed many elements from ancient coinage, Roman especially, and which became inherent in the new art, but which at the same time explored and introduced new forms of expression.
Metallic histories and portrait galleries, struck in series of medals or printed on paper, became a long-lasting European phenomenon that included the commemorative medal in a historical discourse or account. Initially, they were artificial medal collections that in themselves contributed the thread of an explanation and were included in books illustrated with prints. Finally, actual series of medals appeared that constituted a sequence of the pieces and often ended up being collected in illustrated books too.