Object Description
347 VOLTAIRE (1694-1778) 1770
Obv. Bust to right. Around, VOLTAIRE NE LE XX . FEVRIER M . DC . XCIV . ; below, G . C . WAECHTER F . ; laurel border
Rev. On an altar surrounded by light rays, masks, a globe, a laurel wreath, flowers, musical instruments, books, one inscribed LA HENRIADE. On altar front, inscription, TIRE | D'APRES NATURE | AU CHATEAU | DE FERNEY . | G . C . WAECHTER; below, GRAVE | M . DCC . LXX . ; floral border
Bronze, struck, 59 mm.
The original medal of 1769 was inscribed "il ote aux nations le bandeau de I'erreur," but this was objected to and the dies were destroyed and the new reverse cut.
Bibl.: Forrer 6, pp. 338-39; Brescia 2, p. 81, no. 159; E. Demole, "Voltaire, le Conseil de Geneve et le graveur G.-C. Waechter en 1769 et 1770," Revue beige de Numismatique (1913), pp. 36-48. The medals of Voltaire are conveniently listed in J. Montagu, "Inventaire des tableaux, sculptures, estampes, etc. de I'lnstitut et musee Voltaire," Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 20 (1962), pp. 223-47, pp. 229-30.
