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crowned heads of Europe, which would be an acceptable present to them. They will be pleased to decide. In the meantime I have sealed up the die, and shall retain it till I am honoured with their orders as to this medal, and the others also, when they shall be finished.

Jefferson's letter was referred to Congress, which in turn asked Mr. Jay to make a report to it, as follows, from the Office of Foreign Affairs, July

11, 1787:

... As these medals were directed to be struck in order to signalize and commemorate certain interesting events and conspicuous characters, the distribution of them should in his opinion be such as may best conduce to that end. He therefore thinks that both of Mr. Jefferson's hints should be improved, to wit, that a series of these medals should be presented to each of the crowned heads in Europe, and that one of each set be deposited in each of the American colleges. He presumes that Mr. Jefferson does not mean that any should be presented to the King of Great Britain, for it would not be delicate; nor that by crowned heads he meant to exclude free states from the compliment, for to make discriminations would give offense. . . . It might be more magnificent to give gold medals to sovereigns, silver ones to distinguished persons, and copper ones to colleges: but, in his opinion, the nature of the American Governments, as well as the state of their finance, will apologize for their declining the expense. All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress.

It is doubtful whether this project was ever carried out.

The deliberations of the Academy of Inscriptions and-what was undoubtedly more decisivethe authorization of the U. S. Treasury regarding American medals dragged on from 1785 to 1789. Colonel Humphreys, writing from London, January 30, 1786, "Now that there is no obstacle to commencing the medal for General Washington, since Houdon's return." asks Jefferson to offer the commission to Duvivier, to whom it had first been proposed. "If he should not choose it, we must let it rest until Dupré shall have finished General Greene's." Duvivier did undertake the commission; and it is his best medal. Early in January of 1789 Jefferson received his orders for a number of medals, and on February 13 of that year he wrote to Dupré:

Mr. Jefferson has the honour to send to M. Dupré the devices for the medals for General Morgan and Rear-Admiral Paul Jones, which he has just received from the Academy of Belles-Lettres, and the making of which he proposes to Mr. Dupré, the latter to be responsible for the success of the dies up to the strik

ing of three hundred and fifty of each medal in gold, silver, or bronze, and to furnish proofs in tin at the end of the month of March next, so that the medals may all be struck before the 15th of April. He begs him to kindly mention the conditions on which he will undertake them, and Mr. Jefferson will have the honour to reply on receipt of them.

Dupré must have answered this letter immediately, asking for more time and demanding a higher price for the Jones medal (the price for the Morgan medal evidently had already been agreed upon). On February 15, 1789, Jefferson wrote with icy politeness to Dupré as follows:

Mr. Jefferson has the honour to observe to M. Dupré that he pays only twenty-four hundred livres to M. Duvivier or to M. Gatteaux for medals which measure twenty-four lignes, that he paid the same sum to M. Dupré himself for that of General Greene, and that recently M. Dupré asked no higher price for that of General Morgan. Mr. Jefferson cannot, therefore, consent to give more. For that sum he would expect to have the best work of M. Dupré and not that of inferior artists. As regards time, perhaps it may be possible to prolong it somewhat in regard to the medal for Admiral Paul Jones, that officer being at present in Europe. Mr. Jefferson will have the honour to await M. Dupré's answer, and will be happy to conclude this arrangement with him.

FIG. 13. Study of a man, possibly related to the preliminary sketch for Morgan medal. 5 x 4 inches. Amer. Philos. Soc.

This letter evidently did not impair the cordial relations between Dupré and the Americans, for the artist acquiesced and set to work making careful studies for both medals, delivering them within the year. According to the specifications of the Academy of Inscriptions the obverse of the medal to General Morgan was to represent the general being crowned by an Indian queen, symbolizing the United States. The reverse was to be the scene of his victory at the Battle of Cowpens. The pencil sketch of the obverse (fig. 12) at the American Philosophical Society shows some variations from the finished medal. The Indian queen is seen on the right and almost full-face; in the completed work the queen is on the left and more in profile from the rear-a much better composition. The general at first has placed his left hand on his breast, later he leans on a sword with his right hand, and has no hat in his left hand (cf. fig. 131. The French have always considered the battle scene on the reverse as one of the most distinguished medallic achievements, successfully representing several planes in the background in defiance of the traditional limitations of the art. Both Boston and Phila

[PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC. A vax

delphia have studies for this work. sketch larger than the medal is in the Boston Public Library; and also the hubs for the dies of both sides. A hub is the raised mold from which actual intaglio die is fashioned-in other words, the matrix of the matrix. The pencil study at the American Philosophical Society, also slightly larger, shows some variations from the final version. There is a running figure to the left and front of General Morgan's horse (fig. 14), which was later removed, perhaps as distracting too much attention from the general, though drawn with great spirit. Most interesting is a working proof in soft metal of the unfinished intaglio die. The lettering has not yet been engraved; the clouds are in outline only; and there is no detail in the flags (fig. 15). It is interesting to note that in the completed medal the flags have thirteen horizontal stripes and the Great Seal of the United States in place of the usual stars.

John Paul Jones wrote a characteristic letter to Thomas Jefferson about the projected medal in his honor. Apparently he assumed that he should undertake the expense of having the medal struck. The letter was written at the end of August, 1788, from on board the vessel W'ladimir:

... Before I left Copenhagen, I wrote to Mr. Amoureux, merchant at L'Orient, to dispose of some articles of mine in his hands, and remit you the amount. I hope he has done it, and that his remittance may be sufficient to pay Mr. Houdon [for eight replicas of the portrait bust that had been ordered], and the expense

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FIG. 15. Morgan medal. Working proof in soft metal of the die, 1789. Diameter 2 inches. Amer. Philos. Soc.

of striking the medal with which I am honoured by the United States. But lest this should not turn out as I expect, I have directed Dr. Bancroft to pay any draft of yours on him for my account, as far as four or five thousand livres. I shall want four gold medals as soon as the dies are finished. I must present one to the United States, another to the King of France, and I cannot do less than offer one to the Empress [of Russia]. As you will keep the dies for me, it is my intention to have some more gold medals struck; therefore I beg you, in the meantime, not to permit the striking of a single silver or copper medal. I send enclosed an extract from my journal on my expedition from France to Holland, in the year 1779, for the information of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres. I trust, at the same time, more to your judgment than to theirs. There is a medallist who executed three medals for me in wax, one of them is the battle between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis. The position of the two ships is not much amiss; but the necessary figures are much too near the principal objects; and he has placed them to windward, instead of being as they really were, to leeward of the Bonhomme Richard and Serapis. I do not at this moment recollect the medallist's name [it was Renaud] but he lives on the 3d or 4th stage, at a marble cutter's almost opposite, but a little higher than your former house, on Cul-de-sac Rue Taitbout. and may be easily found. It would be of use to see the medal he has made, although it is by no means to be copied....

In their session of February 10, 1789, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, completed and approved the specifications for the

John Paul Jones medal. The obverse was to be a portrait of Jones (Houdon was to furnish a plaster bust as a model). The reverse, a representation of the famous naval battle off the coast of Scotland. Dupré apparently made a preliminary study of the portrait, slightly larger, from the Houdon bust. A proof of this in soft metal, bronzed, is in the Boston Public Library (fig. 16); there are no buttons on the coat and epaulets are barely indicated. Dupré followed the Commodore's suggestions, and his design is correct in the disposition of the fighting ships. He also followed Richard Paton's delineation of the engagement (correcting some discrepancies of billowing sails), as engraved by Lerprinière and Fittler, and published by Boydell, December 12, 1780.

The so-called Diplomatic Medal was the last executed by Dupré for the United States. It is so rare as to be almost legendary. The delays and mishaps which accompanied its completion have been fully documented by official correspondence, and reflect the unsettled period of the French Revolution which was its background. On April 30, 1790, President Washington ordered a gold medal and chain to be presented to Marquis de la Luzerne, the French Minister to the United States from 1779 to 1784, and on March 2, 1791, the same to Count de Moustier, French Minister to the United States from 1787 to 1791. Accordingly Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State,

wrote to William Short, Chargé d'Affaires in Paris, from New York on April 30, 1790:

It has become necessary to determine on a present proper to be given to diplomatic characters on their taking leave of us; and it is concluded that a medal and chain of gold will be the most convenient. I am therefore to ask the favour of you to order the dies to be engraved with all the dispatch practicable. The medal must be of 30-lines diameter, with a loop on the edge to receive the chain. On one side must be the arms of the United States, of which I send you a written description, and several impressions in wax, to render that more intelligible; round them as a legend must be "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." The device on the other side we do not decide on; one suggestion has been a Columbia (a fine female figure) delivering the emblems of Peace and Commerce to a Mercury, with the legend "PEACE AND COMMERCE" circumscribed, and the date of our Republic, to-wit: IV Jul. MDCCLXXVI, subscribed as an Exerguum; but having little confidence in our own ideas in an art not familiar here, they are only suggested to you, to be altered, or altogether postponed to such better device as you may approve on consulting with those who are in the habit and study of medals. Duvivier and Dupré seem to be the best workmen, perhaps the last is the best of the two.

[PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

On June 6, 1791, William Short wrote to Jefferson:

The medal which you desire to be made for Mr. de Moustier shall be executed as soon as I can have the "coins" [dies] finished. You will no doubt be much astonished at this delay, but the engraver has been so devoted to the affair of their money, which is contending for by all the artists, that it has been impossible to get him to finish the work he had undertaken for the United States, and which was nearly completed last fall. This delay cannot last much longer, and he assures me he will shorten it as much as possible. He is to write a letter that I may send it to Mr. de la Luzerne and show him that the delay does not proceed from me. I don't know by what opportunity to send you the dies; there is no other than by the public carriages to Havre, and at present they would be stopped and examined by several of the municipalities, who would take them, from their weight, to be specie to be exported, which they do not allow, notwithstanding the decrees of the assembly. . . .

William Short wrote to Jefferson from Paris, September 25, 1791:

You will have heard of the death of Mr. de la Luzerne in England. The dies for the medal destined for him have been retarded in a most unexpected manner

... I shall employ Dupré to execute the medal you mention, after having consulted with the Abbé Barthélémi respecting those parts which are left undecided, and no time shall be lost in forwarding the business.

On July 26, 1790, Jefferson wrote to William Short from New York:

... As I presume the die will be finished by the time you receive this, I am to desire you will have a medal of gold struck for the Marquis de la Luzerne, and have put to it a chain of 365 links, each link containing gold of the value of two dollars and a half, or 13 livres 10 sous, the links to be plain wire, so that their workmanship may cost as it were nothing. The whole will make a present of a little more

than a thousand dollars, including the medal and chain. As soon as done, be pleased to forward them by a safe hand to the Marquis de la Luzerne, in the name of the President of the United States. . . . On March 8, 1791, Jefferson ordered another gold medal:

You are directed to have a medal struck from the diplomatic die, formerly ordered, and to present it with a chain of gold to Count de Moustier, who is netihed that this will be done by you....

the new coinage. Previous to the death of Mr. de la Luzerne, I explained to him the cause of this delay and sent him a letter from the engraver on the subject, which he answered by a desire that the national work should be first performed. The dies were since completed, but unfortunately one of them failed, as often happens, in the hardening. The engraver is now employed in repairing this evil and says it will be done in two or three weeks. I suppose it is so certain that this medal should be given to Mr. de la Luzerne's representative, that as soon as it is ready I shall mention the subject to Mr. de Montmorin [the Minister of Foreign Affairs] and follow his advice respecting it.

As an interlude in the official correspondence there is a letter quoted by Loubat, which he transcribed from the collection of Narcisse Dupré, It is to Dupré in Short's handwriting, in French. without date:

As I do not suppose that you are ignorant that the medal for America, of which the die was broken in the coining press, has been for a long time promised to distinguished persons, you will no doubt not be surprised at the interest which I take that neither the delicacy of the donors nor the desires of the legatees should be compromised. Now, Sir, I see only one means of avoiding this, that is to give to the donors, for the time being, the only proof which

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the die has permitted, and which is in your hands; this, while removing all suspicion of negligence on my part, prevents also the United States from occupying the disagreeable position of appearing to have forgotten its promises. Be good enough, therefore, Sir, to lend yourself to this arrangement, which the interested persons will most certainly not fail to acknowledge; your rights upon the making being besides only retarded, since a new die must be made. I beg you therefore, Sir, to hand the medal to the bearer, so that I may present it to remedy, in some degree, the accident; and in case you think you ought to retain it, be kind enough to inform me thereof in writing, so that I may justify myself in every way to the interested parties.

Dupré must have acceded to this request, since there was in the same collection the following gracious and understanding letter from M. de Moustier to Dupré:

I have had the more regret, Sir, at the delay which has happened to the execution of the medal destined for me by the Government of the U.S., since I have learned that it was due to causes which have been annoying to you. I hope that a third trial will prove a complete success. I desire it the more ardently since I have seen by the impression in metal at Mr. Short's how gratifying its exhibition will be for a Frenchman abroad, who loves to do honour to his compatriots. When it shall be finished, I will be much obliged to you if you will please have it sent to me, since Mr. Short is about to leave. I have the honour to be very truly, Sir, your most humble and very obedient servant.

On February 8, 1792, William Short was able to report to Jefferson that the two gold medals and chains were completed and delivered. All trace of these gold medals has since been lost, and only one or two of the bronze medals are extant.

FIG. 17. Pen drawing for reverse of Diplomatic medal. 4i 6 inches. Amer. Philos. Soc.

FIG. 18. Diplomatic medal. Proof in soft metal from the broken die, 1792. Diameter 21 inches. Amer. Philos. Soc.

No further impressions were ordered struck, and it is not known what became of the final dies. The damaged dies, referred to in William Short's letter, were acquired by the Boston Public Library from the collection of Dupré's son. In Boston also, is Dupré's relief model, or hub, carrying out Jefferson's own idea of "Columbia (a fine female figure) delivering the emblems of Peace and Commerce to a Mercury." It will be seen that Dupré, hard pressed though he was by his duties at the Mint, did not fail to make his customary careful preliminary studies. At the American Philosophical Society are two sketches for the eagle on the reverse. Jefferson had indicated that the reverse of the medal was to be a representation of a stylized coat of arms, or the Great Seal of the United States. Evidently, Dupré, at first not quite accepting that limitation,

made some free studies of a more naturalistic eagle-a spirited pen drawing of an eagle grasping thunderbolts in his talons, and a fully developed sketch modelled in wax (fig. 17). But he must in the end have rejected the conception in favor of the more conventional seal-which is a pity, for it would have been an original and distinguished contribution. The finished version may be seen in a proof in soft metal from the broken die (fig. 18).

Such is the history of Augustin Dupré's American medals, as elucidated by the sketches and proofs from his own collection and by the documentary evidence from official correspondence. It is an edifying story of the happy conjunction between our urbane statesmen and an accomplished medallic craftsman. The result is a group of distinguished medals which rank among the masterpieces of the art.