ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XVIII
MEDAL (Fr. médaille, from Lat. metallum), strictly the term given to a memorial piece, originally of metal, and generally in the shape of a coin, used however not as currency but as an artistic product. “Medallion” is a similar term for a large medal, but is now usually restricted to a form of bas-relief in sculpture. The term “medal” is, artistically, extended by analogy to pieces of the same character not necessarily shaped like coins. The history of coins and medals is inseparable, and is treated under the general heading of Numismatics. That article may be supplemented here by an account of (1) the more recent progress in the art of the medallist, and (2) the use of medals for war decorations.
1. The medal—as it is understood to-day—enjoys a life entirely independent of the coin on the one hand, and, on the other, of the sculptured medallion, or bas-relief; and its renaissance is one of the chief phenomena in art during the period since about 1870. It is in France that it has risen to the greatest perfection. Its popularity there is well-nigh universal; it is esteemed not only for memorials of popular events and of public men, but also for private celebrations of all kinds. No other nation approaches in excellence—in artistic feeling, treatment, and sensitiveness of execution—the artists and the achievements of France. In England, although the Royal Academy seeks to encourage its students to practise the art, the prize it offers commonly induces no competition. The art of the medallist is not properly appreciated or understood, and receives little or no support. The prevailing notion concerning it is that it consists in stamping cheap tokens out of white metal or bronze, on which a design, more or less vulgar, stands out in frosty relief from a dazzling, glittering background. These works, even the majority of military and civic medals, demonstrate how the exquisite art of the Renaissance had been degraded in England—almost without protest or even recognition—so that they are, to a work of Roty or Chaplain, what a nameless daub would be to a picture by Rembrandt or Velasquez.
It is probable that Jacques Wiener (d. 1899), of Belgium, was the last of the medallists of note who habitually cut his steel dies entirely with his own hand without assistance, though others in some measure do so still. Although most modern workers, exclusively medallists, have themselves cut dies, they now take advantage of the newest methods; and the graveur en médailles has become simply a médailleur. His knowledge of effect is the same—though the effect sought is different: in earlier times the artist thought chiefly of his shadows; now he mainly regards his planes. Otherwise his aims are not dissimilar. At the present day the medallist, after making conscientious studies from life (as if he were about to paint a picture), commonly works out his design in wax, or similar substance, upon a disk of plaster about 12 or 14 inches in diameter. From that advanced model a simple mould, or matrix, is made, and a plaster cast is taken, whereupon the artist can complete his work in the utmost perfection. Then, if a struck medal is required, a steel cast is made, and from that a reduction to the size required for the final work is produced by means of the machine—the tour à réduire. It is this machine which has made possible the modern revival, and has revolutionized the taste of designers and public alike. It was invented by Contamin, who based it upon that tour à portrait which Houlot produced in 1766, and which helped to fame several engravers now celebrated. This machine was first exhibited in Paris in 1839, and was sold to the Munich Mint; while a similar invention, devised at the same time by the English engraver Hill, was acquired by Wyon for £2000, and was ultimately disposed of to a private mint in Paris. From that city comes the machine, based by the French inventor M. Ledru upon the two already referred to, now in use at the Royal Mint in London. A well-served medallist, therefore, need trouble himself nowadays about little beyond the primary modelling and the final result, correcting with his own hand only the slightest touches—refining, perfecting—but sometimes merely confining himself to giving his directions to the professional engraver.[1]
The great majority of the artistic medals at present in the world (in the great collection of France there is a total of not fewer than 200,000 medals) are cast, not struck. There is in them a charm of surface, of patina, of the metal itself, which the struck medal, with all the added beauties which it allows of delicate finish and exquisite detail, can hardly give. But the production of the cast medal is much slower, much more uncertain, and the number of fine copies that can be produced is infinitely smaller. All the early medals were cast, being first modelled in wax, and then cast by the cire perdue (waste wax)
- ↑ The method of preparing the dies, &c., is the same for medals as for coins, save that for larger and heavier work more strokes are required, as in the case of L. Coudray’s popular “Orphée”—rather a sculpture-relief than a medal. The dies are capable of a great yield before becoming quite worn-out; it is said that no fewer than three million copies were struck of Professor J. Tautenhayn’s Austrian jubilee medal of the Emperor Francis Joseph. In France, Thonelier’s perfected machine, substituting the lever for the screw, has been in use for coins since 1844; but for the striking of medals the same old fashioned screw-press is retained which had till then been employed both for coins and medals since the time of Louis XIV. In its present form the machine consists of an iron or bronze frame, of which the upper part is fitted with a hollow screw wherein works an inner screw. This screw, moved by steam or electricity, drives the dies, set in iron collars, so that they strike the blank placed between them. This machine can deliver a strong blow to produce a high relief, or a delicate touch to add the finest finish. In the Paris Mint large medals can be struck with comparative ease and rapidity. A hydraulic press of nearly two million pounds pressure is utilized for testing the dies
