Michal Vitanovský

(3. 5. 1946)

Michal Vitanovský ranks among the most significant and at the same time the most often employed authors of Czech commemorative medals and coins. He has produced over one hundred minted works. Together with seven hundred cast artefacts he has produced a work of a remarkable scope. Since the 1990s he has been also working on the production of insignia: mayor’s, dean’s or chancellor’s chains, keys to the city, etc. He is the author of the highest state order of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion. Until 2004 he regularly exhibited his work at the exhibitions of the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM). Michal Vitanovský is not only an important sculptor and medal designer, but also an author of professional texts, disputations and essays. He founded the irregularly published AUM periodical (a magazine of the Association of Medal Artists) which he issued it for several years as the editor-in-chief and owner and to which he contributed witty observations. His articles also regularly appear in the Czech numismatic magazine Mince a bankovky (Coins and Banknotes). Vitanovský’s favourite hobbies include the study of history and heraldry in which he has been interested since his youth.

Michal Vitanovský was born in Klatovy. He studied the Secondary Technical School of Fine Arts in Prague, then he enrolled at the College of Applied Arts in Prague in the studio of professor Jan Kavan. The artist now lives and works in Prague.

 

INTERVIEW

You are the author of the most important Czech state order, the Order of the White Lion. When you were designing it, you were bound by strictly defined parameters with which you had to comply …
That is true. It is a relatively conservative discipline. If the limits are strictly defined, I try to stretch them as far as possible while staying within the rules and to put my own creativity within the restricted space. I would be bored if I had to keep too much within these tight limits. The Order of the White Lion is moreover a collection of several models: the jewel, the star and the chain, therefore you could find some free space in each one of them.

History is your great source of inspiration. Which period is the closest to you?
It is a good question. For about a half of my life I preferred the Middle Ages but in the last ten years I have focused on the Renaissance and the Baroque. Therefore the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Yes, history is important for me. I will also add that I am a conservative and I find it more interesting to study the seventeenth century in an archive than to read today’s newspaper. However, people are, of course, very similar, I do not want to pretend that the politicians were better then.

You have made many diverse medal designs, is there any curio among them?
It is a medal which was produced by my friend Anselm Roskovec, who teaches engraving of coin dies at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Jablonec nad Nisou. He kept urging me for a long time to make the coat of arms of the House of Vitanovský. As he kept urging me, I thought I would do it and I would see how he could handle it. And the way he produced the design is really a technical masterpiece. It is a bimetallic medal, in which he had to insert a complex-shaped semi-finished product made of one metal into another metal. My colleague assured me that he had coined only a single piece in this form. The other medals are of a classical coinage.

The medal reads: Vitanovský of Vlčkovice. Is it a coat of arms of your ancestors?
In order to relax I sometimes study genealogy in the archives and I found that it was a family of lower nobility. The first written records mentioning it date back to the mid-fifteenth century. I do not have any proof of a direct lineage but some circumstantial evidence suggests it, therefore I say that there is a 70% probability.

VÁCLAV THÁM – návrhy mince 500 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 34mm b.k. 141,76 €
VÁCLAV THÁM – návrhy mince 500 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 1 Oz Proof 438,06 €
RUDOLF II. – návrhy mince 200 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 34mm b.k. 176,21 €
RUDOLF II. – návrhy mince 200 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 1 Oz Proof 438,06 €
Pražská mincovna - zlato 1/2 Oz Proof 3 485,64 €
Pražská mincovna - zlato 1 Oz Proof 6 964,73 €
Pražská mincovna - stříbro 28mm Proof 48,73 €
Pražská mincovna - stříbro 1 Oz Proof 204,68 €
Pražská mincovna - Měď 1 Oz b.k. 20,47 €
Polyxena z Pernštejna - 450. výročí narození zlato b.k. 3 485,64 €
Polyxena z Pernštejna - 450. výročí narození stříbro patina 204,68 €
PETR VOK Z ROŽMBERKA – návrhy mince 200 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 34mm b.k. 186,05 €
PETR VOK Z ROŽMBERKA – návrhy mince 200 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 1 Oz Proof 438,06 €
Operace Antropoid - zlato Proof 3 485,64 €
Operace Antropoid - stříbro Proof 204,68 €
Milada Horáková - zlato 1/2 Oz Proof 3 485,64 €
Milada Horáková - stříbro malá b.k. 106,23 €
Markéta Lucemburská - 700. výročí narození Au b.k. 3 485,64 €
Markéta Lucemburská - 700. výročí narození Ag patina 204,68 €
Ludvík Očenášek - 145. výročí narození stříbro patina 204,68 €
Johana z Rožmitálu 50 mm stříbro Proof 176,70 €
Jitka Lucemburská - 700. výročí narození zlato b.k. 3 485,64 €
Jitka Lucemburská - 700. výročí narození stříbro proof 204,68 €
JIŘÍ TRNKA – návrhy mince 500 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 34mm b.k. 176,21 €
JIŘÍ TRNKA – návrhy mince 500 Kč - sada 3x stříbro 1 Oz Proof 438,06 €
Jan Žižka z Trocnova - zlato Proof 3 485,64 €
Jan Žižka z Trocnova - stříbro Proof 204,68 €
Heliodor Píka - zlato 1/2 Oz Proof 3 485,64 €
Heliodor Píka - stříbro 28 mm b.k. 106,23 €
Edvard Beneš - 125. let narození - zlato Proof 6 964,73 €
Edvard Beneš - 125. let narození - stříbro Proof 204,68 €
Česká Družina - zlato Proof 3 485,64 €
Česká Družina - stříbro Proof 204,68 €
Cyprián Karásek ze Lvovic - 500. výročí narození stříbro patina 204,68 €
Bitva u Malešova - 590. výročí zlato b.k. 3 485,64 €
Bitva u Malešova - 590. výročí stříbro patina 204,68 €
Alois Eliáš - 28 mm stříbro b.k. 106,23 €
Alois Eliáš - 1/2 Oz zlato Proof 3 485,64 €
Alois Eliáš - 1 Oz zlato Proof 6 964,73 €
Alois Eliáš - 1 Oz stříbro Proof 204,68 €
Alois Eliáš - 1 Oz Měď b.k. 20,47 €
2017 - Proof -Svatoanežské dukáty - 1 dukát Au 631,17 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - sada Au 12 206,11 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - sada Ag 474,98 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 5 dukát Au 3 582,44 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 5 dukát Ag 145,20 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 2 dukát Au 1 329,78 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 2 dukát Ag 56,60 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 10 dukát Au 6 964,73 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 10 dukát Ag 292,86 €
2017 - Proof - Svatoanežské dukáty - 1 dukát Ag 48,97 €