Jacques-Antoine Dassier (1715–1759) was a

Genevan , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ...

medallist. He was active in London, as James Anthony Dassier, from 1740 to the mid-1750s.

Life

He was born in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

on 15 November 1715, the son of

Jean Dassier Jean Dassier (August or October 17, 1676 – November 12, 1763) was a Genevan engraver and medallist. Dassier was born in Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vern ...

. He received lessons in drawing and engraving from his father. At 17 Dassier was sent to Paris for instruction from the silversmith

Thomas Germain Thomas Germain (1673–1748) was the pre-eminent Parisian silversmith of the Rococo. The son of a Paris silversmith Pierre Germain (none of whose work survives) he did not at first train in the family workshop, but began as a painter, spending th ...

. In 1736 he went to Italy. He stayed at Rome for one year (1737), studied art, and made a medal of

Pope Clement XII Pope Clement XII ( la, Clemens XII; it, Clemente XII; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740. Clement presided over the ...

. At

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

he took the portrait of the

king of Sardinia The following is a list of rulers of Sardinia, in particular, of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica from 1323 and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1479 to 1861. Early history Owing to the absence of written sources, litt ...

in wax, completing it as a medal on his return to Geneva, where he stayed for some time as an assistant to his father. In 1740 Dassier went to England, In 1741 he was appointed assistant engraver to the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury and is un ...

, with a salary and lodging: the duties were light. He visited Geneva in 1743 (again in 1745) and, on his way, in Paris, made a wax portrait of

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

from the life, producing a medal from it in 1753. About 1756, George II permitted Dassier leave England for

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where he worked on the coinage of the Empress Elizabeth, and made medals of Count Schouwalov and of the Empress. During his three years' stay his health worsened, and he was returning to England, when he died at Copenhagen, in the house of Count Bernstorf, on 2 October 1759.

Works

At the beginning of his time in England, Dassier printed proposals for making medals of 13 distinguished living Englishmen by subscription. This series, with subjects largely from Whig political and

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

circles, was carried out 1740–1744. The dies were engraved in London, then the medals were struck off at Geneva. The table below lists all Dassier's English medals; they have a bust for the obverse, and normally, for the reverse, an inscription in an ornamental border. (The original 13 candidates had

Richard Mead Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

in place of the Duke of Marlborough, the other 12 being Argyll, Barker, Barnard, Carteret, Chesterfield, Folkes, Halley, de Moivre, Pope, Pulteney, Sloane, Walpole.Vertue's Note Book B. 4 ritish Museum Add. MS. 23,079 The Volume of the Walpole Society Vol. 22, Vertue Note Books: Volume III (1933–1934), pp. 87–142, at p. 101. Published by: The Walpole Society. ) Dassier was less prolific than his father. On the other hand, the initial portrait series has been considered "perhaps the most accomplished medals produced in England during the eighteenth century". Dassier's signatures were I. (or J.) A. Dassier; I. Dassier (rare); Ja. Ant. Dassier; A. Dassier; A. Das.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Dassier, Jacques-Antoine 1715 births 1759 deaths Medallists Engravers from the Republic of Geneva 18th-century artists from the Republic of Geneva