A Guide to the Exhibition of English MedalsBritish Museum. Department of Coins and Medals
History
A Guide to the Exhibition of English Medals
British Museum. Department of Coins and Medals
Medals -- Great Britain
The first ten years of George II. are also devoid of medallic interest,
and it is not until the outbreak of the war of the Austrian Succession
that we have a piece of any merit. The best medals of this period
are those of the battle of Dettingen executed by Haesling and of the
battle of Minden by Holtzhey, a native of Amsterdam. Other recorded
events of this reign are the taking of Porto Bello and the attempt
on Carthagena by Admiral Vernon (of these events there are more than
a hundred different medalets), and the Jacobite rebellion under the
Younger Pretender, 1745—6. There is also a series of medals issued by
the Society for the Promotion of Arts and Commerce, commemorating the
conquest of Canada and the successes of the forces of England in India.
In portrait-medals the most important are the works of Dassier, of whom
mention has already been made.
The medals which illustrate the long reign of George III. down to the
battle of Waterloo in 1815, at which point this exhibition closes,
will be found to record all that is of importance during that period.
The events are so numerous and varied that the reader must be referred
to the descriptions, which will be found at pp. 113—130. The greater
portion of the medals relate to the struggle of England with her
American colonists, and to the subsequent wars with France, Spain,
and Holland, by sea and land. Following these are several pieces
commemorating some of the battles of the Peninsular War, and bearing
portraits of the principal generals, and a few personal medals of
statesmen and others, among whom may be noted Washington and Benjamin
Franklin. The series of historical medals closes with one of the finest
productions of the art of modern times, the Waterloo medal, designed
and executed by Pistrucci, a work of 'surpassing size and beauty,' on
which the artist spent a great portion of his life.
[Sidenote: MILITARY AND NAVAL MEDALS.]
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