[35] Johann Lorenz Natter, a native of Biberach, Württemberg, settled early at Florence, where he worked for the Grand Duke, and also under the patronage of Baron Stosch, a famous collector of ancient gems, for whom he executed intagli in imitation of the antique. It is also said that he interpolated names on antique gems. From Florence he emigrated to London, where he was liberally patronised by the Duke of Devonshire and the Duke of Marlborough, and was appointed Assistant Engraver to the Mint. Soon after the coronation of George III. he went to St. Petersburg, where he died in 1763.
[36] Augustin Dupré, a medallist of some note, was for some time chief engraver at the Paris mint.
[37] Benjamin Du Vivier, son of J. Du Vivier, the medallist, b. at Paris, 1730, was chief engraver to Louis XVI. He was afterwards employed by the French Republican Government. Died 1795.
[38] Jean Pierre Droz, b. at Chaux de Fonds 1746, was a pupil of Du Vivier. He came to England about 1790, and was engaged by Boulton of Birmingham on a new copper coinage. Returning to Paris about 1807, he was appointed Director of the Mint, which post he resigned in 1814. Afterwards, under the direction of Vivant-Denon and Jeuffroy, he issued a large series of medals illustrating the great events of the Empire. In this work he employed a number of engravers. He died 1823.
[39] The place occupied in medallic art in the 17th century by the Roettier family has been filled during the present century by the family of the Wyons. This family is of German origin, George Wyon, the first member who visited England, being a native of Cologne, and forming one of the suite of George I., to whose person he was attached as Chief Goldsmith. He is said to have died in the West Indies. His son George was apprenticed to Hemmings, the goldsmith of George II., and in 1772 executed for the City of London a silver cup which was presented to John Wilkes, the "Patriot." In 1775 he was engaged at the Soho mint near Birmingham, and died in 1796, leaving four sons, the two eldest being Thomas and Peter, who acted together as a firm of general die-engravers in Birmingham till 1800. In this year Thomas came to London, and was employed in the Dept. of the Engraver of His Majesty's Seals, and of which Dept. he became chief in 1816. He died in 1830, surviving by many years his son, Thomas Wyon, jun., who at the early age of 23 in 1815 was appointed Chief Engraver to the Mint, and who in that capacity executed, among numerous medals, that for the battle of Waterloo (No. [576]) and also the great recoinage of 1816. T. Wyon, jun., died in 1817. His brother Benjamin was appointed Chief Engraver of His Majesty's Seals in 1831, and executed among other works the Crimea medal (No. [597]). He died in 1858, and was succeeded in his appointment by his son, J. S. Wyon, who in conjunction with his brother, A. B. Wyon, engraved the New Zealand (No. [603]) and Abyssinian (No. [605]) medals. J. S. Wyon died in 1873, and the appointment which he held was given to his brother, A. B. Wyon. Peter Wyon, the second son of George Wyon, after the departure of his brother to London remained at Birmingham, where he displayed great taste in his designs and models for ornamental brass-work. Before his death he had the satisfaction of seeing his son William enjoying greater reputation than himself. William Wyon, the R.A., was born at Birmingham 1795, and in 1815 he came to London. In the following year he was appointed Assistant Engraver to the Mint, and in 1828 succeeded Pistrucci as Chief Engraver. In 1832 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1838 Academician, this being the first instance of a medallist receiving such distinction. Besides the numerous coinages which W. Wyon executed, he produced a large series of military, academical, and private medals. He died in 1851, and was succeeded in his post by his son, L. C. Wyon, the present Engraver to the Mint, who, besides engraving a large series of national, colonial, and foreign coinages, has executed the medals for the Second Burmese War (No. [595]), for Campaigns in South Africa (No. [596]), for Service in the Baltic (No. [598]), for the Indian Mutiny (No. [601]), for Arctic Discoveries (No. [602]), for the Ashantee War (No. [606]), &c.
[40] Benedetto Pistrucci, born at Rome 1784 of good family, his father being Judge of the High Criminal Court at Rome, began at the early age of twelve to study the art of gem and cameo cutting, and acquired such proficiency that before he was sixteen his works were often disposed of by dealers as antiques. In 1815 Pistrucci came to England, and two years later, upon the death of T. Wyon, was appointed Chief Engraver to the Mint, being immediately engaged on the new silver and gold coinage, having for the reverse type the St. George and Dragon. For some time after the accession of George IV., Pistrucci was engaged on a coinage for the new reign, which, having finished, he was promoted in 1828 to the post of Chief Medallist to the Mint, W. Wyon being appointed his successor as Chief Engraver. From this period till 1849 Pistrucci was engaged on the dies of the Waterloo medal, occasionally relieving the monotony of the work by the production of a large number of gems and medals, among the latter being the Coronation Medal of Victoria, a medal of the Duke of Wellington, one for the Royal Humane Society, &c. &c. He died in 1855.
[41] Inscriptions of the persons represented on the medals are not given in this Index.
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.