Issue of King Charles IV of Spain, struck to commemorate the royal oath sworn at the Sevillian Academy in 1796.
The royal family traveled to Seville in February 1796 in order to fulfill a vow made by Queen Maria Luisa, who had promised to visit the tomb of King Ferdinand III the Saint if the Prince of Asturias recovered his health.
This medal was commissioned by the School of Fine Arts in Seville through the intervention of its director and collector, Francisco de Bruna, who many years earlier had commissioned Antonio de Saa to produce two other medals: a prize medal for the students of the said School in 1778, and a commemorative medal for the proclamation of Charles IV in Seville the following year.
Bruna selected two engravers from the mint, Francisco Pardo and José Braulio Amat, to execute this work. The former copied the portrait from the large medal commemorating the proclamation of Charles IV in Madrid, designed by Pedro González de Sepúlveda, for the obverse die, while the latter depicted on the reverse the most significant event of the royal journey.
Obverse: bust of Carlos IV with cuirass, cape and fleece
CAROLVS IV REX CATHOL HISPALI PIVS
Reverse: in front of a semicircular arch the Kings and the Prince of Austrias kneeling on the tomb of San Fernando, in exergue HISPAL SCHOL MDCC/LXXXXVI
SOLVTIS CAELESTI NVMINI VOTIS
Bronze, diameter 49 mm, weight 39.16 g
