DOI Heft:
No. 61 (March, 1902)
DOI Artikel:Marx, Roger: The latest evolution of the medal in France
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22773#0034
French Medals
This result, eloquent as it is, nevertheless caused
no surprise to those who were cognisant of the
steady rise in the number of orders annually
registered by the Paris Mint. In 1890 they
amounted to 4,672, and a progressive increase
carried the figures to 9,673 in 1900. All this has
not failed to produce one satisfactory result:
the administration of the Mint has resolved
to open a permanent office for the sale of
medals, which will be managed on lines similar
to those at the Exhibition. The advantage
thus offered to the collector is manifest—especially
to the foreign amateur passing through Paris,
and whose time is precious. Henceforward there
will be no delay, and none of the trouble in-
volved in having the medals sent to their destina-
tion through the post. Everyone may be con-
gratulated therefore on a happy and an opportune
innovation. The medallist’s art is highly popular,
and it may well command the sympathies of an
age which demands for all the benefit of Eesthetic
enjoyment. To increase the facilities for procuring
medals is thus something more than the gratifica-
tion of the privileged few—the rich. It means,
at the same time, a raising of taste among all
classes by the general diffusion of “things of
beauty.”
• For those interested in the future of glyptic art,
there were other lessons to be derived from the
“World’s Fair” of 1900. Everything there formed
the pretext for a medal, and a large and curious
collection might be formed simply by obtaining
the works of this kind, produced abroad and—
particularly—in France, on the occasion of the last
18
Universal Exhibition. From first to last, in all
circumstances—whether it were a question of
permits to inspect a works, or of badges for the
members of the various juries—the medallist was
MEDAL BY CHAPLAIN
always called in ; and he never failed to rise to the
occasion. While on the one hand the taste for the
medal has developed and extended, the artist, on
the other, has scrupulously fulfilled all the demands
made upon him. Thus the application of the
glyptic art tends to spread in all directions. Certain
This result, eloquent as it is, nevertheless caused
no surprise to those who were cognisant of the
steady rise in the number of orders annually
registered by the Paris Mint. In 1890 they
amounted to 4,672, and a progressive increase
carried the figures to 9,673 in 1900. All this has
not failed to produce one satisfactory result:
the administration of the Mint has resolved
to open a permanent office for the sale of
medals, which will be managed on lines similar
to those at the Exhibition. The advantage
thus offered to the collector is manifest—especially
to the foreign amateur passing through Paris,
and whose time is precious. Henceforward there
will be no delay, and none of the trouble in-
volved in having the medals sent to their destina-
tion through the post. Everyone may be con-
gratulated therefore on a happy and an opportune
innovation. The medallist’s art is highly popular,
and it may well command the sympathies of an
age which demands for all the benefit of Eesthetic
enjoyment. To increase the facilities for procuring
medals is thus something more than the gratifica-
tion of the privileged few—the rich. It means,
at the same time, a raising of taste among all
classes by the general diffusion of “things of
beauty.”
• For those interested in the future of glyptic art,
there were other lessons to be derived from the
“World’s Fair” of 1900. Everything there formed
the pretext for a medal, and a large and curious
collection might be formed simply by obtaining
the works of this kind, produced abroad and—
particularly—in France, on the occasion of the last
18
Universal Exhibition. From first to last, in all
circumstances—whether it were a question of
permits to inspect a works, or of badges for the
members of the various juries—the medallist was
MEDAL BY CHAPLAIN
always called in ; and he never failed to rise to the
occasion. While on the one hand the taste for the
medal has developed and extended, the artist, on
the other, has scrupulously fulfilled all the demands
made upon him. Thus the application of the
glyptic art tends to spread in all directions. Certain