Auguste-françois Michaut Medallion Of Louis XVIII King Of France

Medallion of Louis XVIII King of France, bas relief in composition* in a double frame in lapis lazuli-style glass and gilded brass Signed Michaut** Restoration Period Excellent condition, note a crack in the frame. Diameter 9.5 cm *Composite material consisting mainly of crushed fish scale, agglomerating, pigmenting, thus forming a compound material with very fine grain. **Auguste-François Michaut, born in Paris on September 29, 1786 and died in Versailles on December 26, 1879, was an engraver of the coins of France and the Netherlands, a medalist and a French sculptor. Auguste François Michaut was born in Paris in 1786 into an artistic environment. His father Jean, associated with his brother Jean Baptiste, is a founder of art objects and a carver on rue du Temple. His mother died in 1801. He entered the School of Fine Arts in Paris around 1804. His tastes first led him towards sculpture. His first masters were the sculptors François-Frédéric Lemot and Jean-Guillaume Moitte. He was admitted to compete in the Grand Prix de Rome in 1809. But his poor health due to a chest disease forced him to give up sculpture. He then turned to medal engraving. André Galle (known as “Galle the Elder”) taught him the basics. His engraver's signature is "Michaut F.", and his difference, a Roman lamp on an anchor. During this period, he became friends with James Pradier, his fellow student, who was also a student of Lemot. On June 13, 1812, he won the second prize in Rome in the medal engraving competition of the Academy of Fine Arts with The French Hercules, the Academy having decided not to award a first prize. The following year, he competed again, but the jury expressed regret at not having two first prizes to award, Michaut having already won a second prize, was only likely to obtain the first. He engraved the French Eagle medal on the Wolga for the government of Napoleon I under the direction of Dominique Vivant Denon (1812). His son Auguste Victor Michaut was born on February 19, 1814, he was legitimized during his marriage ten years later to Jeanne Louis, who was five years older than him and divorced from a first husband in 1804.