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ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM WAKE
DASSIER, Jean: England, 1725, Bronze, 43 mm
Obv: Bust of Wake GUILIELMUS WAKE ARCH. CANT.
Rev: Inscription JLLUSTRIUM VIRORUM QUI VERAE RELIGIONI CHRISTIANAE
BONISQUE LITTERIS JN EUROPA RENOVANDIS RESTAURANDISQUE ADLABORARUNT JCONES
VERISSIMAS REVERENDISSIMO IN CHRISTO PATRI GUILIELMO WAKE ARCHIEPISCOPO
CANTUARIENSI TOTIUS ANGLIAE PRIMATI ET METROPOLITANO OFFERT, DICAT
DEDICATQUE JOANNES DASSIER GENEVENSIS. M.DCC.XXV. (These Most Truthful
Portraits of Illustrious Men, Who Have Labored for the Revival and
Restoration of the True Christian Religion and Polite Literature in Europe,
Jean Dassier, a Genevese, Offers, Presents, and Dedicated to the Right
Reverend Father in Christ, William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate
of All England and Metropolitan, 1725.)
Signed: JOANNES DASSIER
This is the Dedicatory medal for Dassier's Series of Protestant Reformers
Ref: M.I. 462/73; Eimer 76/500; Eisler I, 209/1a
William Wake (1657-1737) was educated at Oxford and,
through a succession of appointments, became Archbishop of Canterbury in
1716. He was the author of several theological works and many volumes of
sermons. Wake was also a numismatist and an ardent collector of medals,
including those by Jean Dassier. He was particularly impressed with the
special nature of Dassier's medallic work, noting that previously the most
elegant and ingenious monuments had been erected to princes and heros whose
atrocious deeds had brought about the ruination of nations and peoples. By
contrast, to Dassier's great credit, he had chosen to commemorate those men
who were accomplished in the arts and sciences, and in particular those who
had employed their talent for the glory of God. (Eisler).
As is indicated in the legend on the reverse of this medal Dassier dedicated
this series of medals to William Wake.
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