MEDALS OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.

The Society of Arts grew out of a suggestion made by William Shipley, a drawing master of Northampton, and brother of Jonathan Shipley, a well-known Bishop of St. Asaph. Shipley issued on June 8th, 1753,"Proposals for raising by subscription a fund to be distributed in premiums for the promoting of improvements in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, Manufactures, &c;" and in December of the same year he published "a scheme for putting the proposals into execution." The Society was formed in 1754, at a meeting held on 22nd of March at Rawthmell's coffee-house in Henriettastreet, Covent-garden. Premiums were at once offered for the discovery of cobalt and the growth of madder in this country, and for proficiency in drawing. With these offers the Society commenced its prosperous career. A proposal to give medals" on some occasions instead of money" was considered at the meeting of April 30th, 1755, but the matter was postponed as no action could be taken that year. Henry Baker, F.R.S., read a paper on March, 24th, 1756, proposing the distribution of medals as honorary premiums, in which

he said

"It is therefore proposed that a dye be made for striking medals of gold, silver, and copper (with proper devices), to be occasionally bestowed by the Society as a token of honour and esteem on such as shall practice or produce some new manufacture or discovery that may employ many hands, some considerable improvement of public utility, or some valuable branch of commerce in one or the other metal, according to the nature and consequence of the improvement or discovery; which medals in gold shall be of £5 value, and proportionately in silver and copper, though, in all of them, the honour of being thus distinguished is the principal object of regard."

a report. The general meeting of the Society discussed the point on June 7, and resolved:

"That it is the opinion of this Society that the sid medal does not, both in execution and expense, answer the interest and expectation of the Society." It was further resolved that dies and puncheons should be cut for a new medal, according to the designs of Mr. Stuart, the value in gold not to be less than five, nor to exceed eight guineas, pursuant to a former resolution. Mr. Stuart was now asked to appoint his own artist, and he chose Thomas Pingo, the famous die sinker, who agreed to cut dies and puncheons for eighty guineas. The work was quite satisfactory, but in November Pingo found that he could not buy gold and silver without a licence, and Mr. Pinchbeck (a rather ominous name, considering the metal associated with his name) was desired to furnish Mr. Pingo with gold and silver for the purpose. At last the Society obtained what they had so long been striving for-3 thoroughly good medal, at a reasonable cost. On November 29, the thanks of the Society were unanimously given to Mr. Stuart, and a gold medal was ordered to be presented to him, for the great care and trouble he had taken in this matter. On December 6, it was ordered:

"That the inscriptions on the first gold medal, which is to be presented to Lord Viscount Folkestone, Presi dent of this Society, be forthwith engraved, as follows (in pursuance of the resolution of the 24th of May last):-On the reverse, without the wreath of olive, To JACOB, VISCOUNT FOLKESTONE, PRESIDENT; and within the wreath of olive, FOR EMINENT SERVICES."

the same meeting. To Lord Romney, for eminent Inscriptions for other gold medals were ordered at services; to Lady Augusta Greville, for drawing, 1757; to the Duke of Beaufort, Philip Carteret Webb, F.R.S., and John Berney-all for sowing acorns, 1757; and to James Stuart, painter and architect, "for designing this medal." The obverse of the medal is shown in the annexed figure.

This paper was referred to a committee for consideration on March 31st. The committee reported on April 7th that they were of opinion that the giving of medals would be of utility, and they suggested that a committee should be appointed to consider a proper device. Subsequently Mr. Baker submitted a sketch of a design, as did Nicholas Crisp and Mr. Ralph. Hogarth, Henry Cheere, and Nicholas Highmore were upon the medal committee, who agreed upon a device, and afterwards James Stuart, William Chambers, and Thomas Hollis, were added to the committee. After the design had beeu chased upon gold plates, and the order given for the dies to be cut, a difficulty arose. It was decided on March 23, 1757, that the value of the medal should not exceed ten guineas, but when specimens of the selected design were produced it was found that the die could not be carried out completely if less than 15 guineas' worth of gold was used. This was considered too much, and the report of the committee was referred back to them, with instructions to obtain a new device which should only need gold to the There was much discussion in the Society res amount of five guineas. If, however, the device pecting the inscription on the obverse of this meds! in hand could be executed for the proposed five Thus in May, 1857, it was decided that the legend guineas, this was to be preferred. On May, 24th, should be Arts and Commerce Promoted" in 1758, Mr. Yeo produced two gold medals, struck stead of "Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce Prefrom the die which he had cast, the value of one moted." In November it was changed to "Society being ten guineas, that of the other, £8 10s. This for Promoting Arts and Commerce," and later was not considered satisfactory, and the committee the inscription as first proposed was adopted. In to whom the matter was referred declined to make the earlier draft the date of institution was set down

as 1753, but afterwards it was fixed for the year 1754.

This medal was largely used for nearly half a century, but in 1801, James Barry took occasion in his account of his additions to the pictures in the great room, to suggest an improvement in the design. He wrote:

At a meeting of the Society, on the 4th December, 1805, a report of the Committee, recommending that Mr. Flaxman be desired to furnish a design, on the principle suggested by Mr. Barry, was read, when Barry made a motion to the effect that the report should be recommitted, but his motion was not agreed to. The next meeting, on the 11th of December, was apparently a stormy "Mr. Barry begs leave to add, from a letter read by one, for a series of motions were brought forward, him to the Society, Ooctober 25th, 1801, that in con- most of which were "disagreed to." At last, Mr. sequence of the application for designs for a new die for Wakefield made the definite proposition that "the their medal, he stated his intention of introducing a modification of their former design, which he thought name of Flaxman be erased, and that of Barry would answer their intended purpose. The more the inserted; " but this did not find favour with the subject matter of that design is considered, the more meeting, and eventually the original resolution of one must admire and respect the sterling good sense and the committee was agreed to. Barry died in the weighty consideration of the original founders of the following year, and then there was no obstacle to Society. Nothing can be more happily imagined than the completion of Flaxman's medal. Mr. Pidgeon the idea consisting of Britannia aided by Minerva and prepared the dies, and in November, 1806, FlaxMercury, the classical tutelary deities of Arts, Manu-man expressed himself as highly pleased with the factures, and Commerce; and this old device, like many excellence of the execution. The Society were so other good old usages, cannot be amended by any change in the substratum. It requires nothing more in its essence, and will most happily coalesce and accommodate with all the acquisitions and improvements of the most enlarged and refined culture. For this purpose a little more goût and character in the figures is all that is necessary, enlarging them so as to fill the space with more dignity, and taking away from their individual scattered appearance by the little graces and arts of a more improved composition. And as there is always a considerable dignity and consequence attached to magnitude which is one of the constituents of sublimity, his suggested alterations would come to this-to substitute instead of the little entire figures of Minerva and Mercury, only two large heads of those deities, and he would omit the head of Britannia altogether, and by a wreath of the shamrock, rose, and thistle, totally rising round the edge of the medal, playing in and out in a graceful gustoso manner, he would represent the present happily United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a felicity, at least, equal to the owl, the horse's head, or the dolphin on the Athenian, Punice, or Sicilian

coins.'

Medal designed by Flaxman.

pleased with the new medal, that they desired to have an engraving of it for publication in the Transactions. Flaxman proposed that his sisterThis full description of Barry's views is interest-in-law, Miss Denman, should make the drawing, ing, as showing how completely they were carried out in the new medal. In 1802, a totally different design was discussed. Application was made to Mr. Marchant, Associate of the Royal Academy, and gem engraver, to prepare a die, and the Committee of Polite Arts recommended "The Society to be personified by a female, seated, having in one hand a wreath of laurel, and with the other directing attention to the statues of Minerva, Mercury, and Ceres, the ancient deities presiding over the Liberal arts--commerce and agriculture-the immediate objects of the Society." The obverse of the medal to be the head of the President, with the date of his election, and the value of the gold to be twelve guineas. Mr. Marchant, into whose hands the work was placed, appears to have been very dilatory, and after many inquiries it was decided, in April, 1805, to order him "to suspend proceedings with the dies until he hears from the Society." The Committee of Polite Arts then declared that it was expedient to resume the deliberation as to the design ab initio; and they and that the famous Anker Smith should engrave recommended the Society "That Messrs. Papworth, it. The engraving thus produced forms a frontisFlaxman, Howard, Barry, and Tresham be severally applied to, professionally, to furnish rough piece to the 25th volume of the Transactions. sketches and designs for the intended medal." Among the medals presented in 1807 were these

• Transactions-Vol. 19, pp. xxxvi-xxxix.

two:

J. Flaxman, Esq., R.A., Buckingham-place, for