[5] Jean Warm or Varin, born at Liege 1604, studied at a very early age painting, especially portraiture, and the art of engraving, placing himself under the direction of the French medallist Dupré. His talents attracting the notice of Cardinal de Richelieu, he was appointed engraver to the royal mint at Paris. This appointment Varin held till his death, adding at a later period those of Superintendent-General of the Coinage, and Guardian of the Dies. Varin visited England and Sweden, receiving many commissions in both countries. In painting he has left little of note; but of medals some of the finest productions of the seventeenth century were executed by him. He died in 1672.
[6] Simon Passe, the youngest son of Crispin Passe, the eminent artist of Utrecht, born circ. A.D. 1574, received his first instruction in the art of engraving from his father. About 1613 he came to England, where he resided for some 10 years, and engraved a large number of prints, portraits, &c. He was employed by Nicholas Hillard to engrave counters of the Royal Family of England. After quitting England, he entered the service of the King of Denmark, under whose protection he remained till his death circ. 1644.
[7] Nicholas Briot, the chief engraver to the Paris mint during the reign of Louis XIII., was the inventor of the balance for striking coins. Before his invention all coins were struck by the hammer. Briot first submitted his new invention to the authorities at Paris in 1615; but it was not adopted till 1623, and then only temporarily, when he was placed at the head of the coinage in France for that year. The opposition experienced by Briot in his own country induced him to submit his invention to the authorities at the London Mint, where it was at once favourably received, and he was appointed chief engraver from 1628—1633, when he returned to France and again received employment at the Paris Mint. During his residence in England Briot executed a large number of dies for coins as well as dies and moulds for medals, all of which are gems of medallic work.
[8] The date of Thomas Rawlins's first engagement at the Mint is uncertain. We find him, however, associated with Briot as engraver before 1642. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, Rawlins attached himself to the person of the King, for whom he executed many of the dies used at the local mints. Amongst these the most remarkable is that of the Oxford crown. After the death of Charles, Rawlins executed several commemorative medals, which were distributed amongst those who were true to the royal cause. He was also employed by the corporations of certain provincial towns, of which were Oxford, Bristol, and Gloucester, in the manufacture of tokens. After the Restoration, Simon being removed from his post at the mint, and being appointed "one of His Majesty's Chief Engravers," &c., Rawlins was reinstated with the title of "Chief Engraver." This situation he filled till his death, which occurred in 1670, at which time he was engaged on new dies for a sovereign.
[9] Thomas Simon, the artist, whose birthplace and date of birth are uncertain, was first noticed by Nicholas Briot about 1633, and through him was engaged at the Royal Mint in 1636, to engrave the great seal of the Admiralty. In 1645 Simon received his first appointment under Parliament as "Joint Chief Engraver" with Edward Wade, and producing several seals of State remarkable for their artistic skill, he was rewarded by promotion to the post of "Chief Engraver to the Mint and Seals." From this time till the Restoration, Simon produced a large number of medals, many of which are of great beauty both in design and execution, and also the coins with the effigy of the Protector, by whom he was appointed "Sole Chief Engraver and Medal-maker." At the Restoration a fresh patent having been granted to Simon as one of His Majesty's Chief Engravers, he was ordered to prepare the necessary Great Seals, those of the Protector having been broken up. The appointment of John Roettier as one of the Engravers to the Mint led to a quarrel between him and Simon, which resulted in the resignation of the latter. Simon died in 1665 of the plague. Some little time before his death, he produced his masterpiece "The Petition Crown."
[10] Of Abraham Simon, the brother of Thomas Simon, our information is very limited. At an early age he studied theology, but with tastes similar to those of his brother, he soon left these studies and went to Sweden, where his reputation as a modeller in wax speedily raised him to public notice. He entered the service of Queen Christina, and became one of her suite in her travels. Before the outbreak of the Civil War he returned to England, where his portraits became famous. That he left England during the Commonwealth, as stated by some, is very doubtful, as there are many medals executed by him during that period, and chiefly of leading parliamentarians. It is certain, that at the Restoration he stood high in favour with the King, and received 100 guineas for a portrait of him in wax. In disgust at the treatment he received from the Duke of York, he ceased to work altogether, and died shortly afterwards in great poverty.
[11] Jerian Pool or Juriaen van Pool was a medallist of some note at Amsterdam, whose works date from the middle to the second half of the 17th century. The most important of his medals are a portrait of Admiral Martin van Tromp, 1653, another of William, Prince of Orange, of the following year, and the inauguration-medal of the Guildhall of Amsterdam, 1655.
[12] Pieter van Abeele lived at Amsterdam, and was probably a pupil of Jerian Pool. Van Abeele's most famous work is a medal in commemoration of the granting of arms to the city of Amsterdam in 1342 and 1488. He also executed medals for William II. and III. of Orange, Gustavus Adolphus, &c. His medals are of repoussé work and chased, the two sides being united by a rim.
[13] The head of the Roettier family "the family of Medallists" was one John Roettier a native of Antwerp and a goldsmith by profession, who had three sons, John, Joseph, and Philip. During the residence of Charles II. in Holland, John the eldest brother was presented to him as an eminent medallist, and upon his coming to England soon after the Restoration he was appointed one of the engravers to the Mint having Thomas Simon as his colleague, who retired from his post in 1664. John Roettier then became one of the Chief Engravers to the Mint, and with him was associated his brother Joseph, and somewhat later his younger brother Philip, as in 1669 we find that by letters patent July 3rd, 1669, John, Joseph, and Philip Roettier were appointed His Majesty's Engravers at the Mint with a yearly allowance of £450 during their natural lives. In 1672, through the death of Varin, Joseph Roettier by Colbert's influence, obtained the appointment of Chief Engraver at the Mint at Paris, and in 1678 Philip Roettier quitted England and went to reside in Flanders, the coinage of that country during that period showing many traces of his work, which is inferior in style to that of his elder brothers. In 1690 upon the death of G. Bower, James, the eldest son of John Roettier, was associated with his father at the Mint; but in 1694 having played tricks with a portrait of William III., which he was executing for a new copper coinage, he was dismissed, and going to France found employment at the Paris Mint. Norbert his brother, who does not appear to have been regularly employed at the London Mint, having abstracted some of the dies for fraudulent purposes, fled in the following year also to France, and like his brother obtained an appointment at the Paris Mint. He also executed a large number of medals for the Stuart family (v. Stuart Medals, p. 60). The inquiry which followed this scandal resulted in the dismissal of John Roettier, who died in 1703, and was buried in the Tower.
[14] George Bower, or Bowers, as he signs himself on his later medals, was appointed one of the engravers to the Mint after the Restoration, a post which he filled till his death in 1690. He executed a large number of medals for the Royal Family, and also for private individuals, which are characterized by skill and execution.