On 29 January, the two hundredth anniversary of King George III’s death falls. The Royal Mint issued a PS5 commemorative coin.This is a collectible commemorative coin, with a nominal face value of PS13. It also includes a cupronickel medals for sale version and a proof gold coin at PS2,295. Jody Clark’s 2015 portrait as Queen Elizabeth II is featured on the obverse. Dominique Evans, Royal Mint’s graphic design director, designed the reverse.
This is an appropriate way to commemorate the anniversary. In fact, the death of the king prompted several commemorative medals to be issued. This was not the first occasion of George’s long reign that a medal was struck. It began with his accession in 1760 to the throne. These medals were then included in a slew of medallic commemoration and celebrations in later Georgian Britain. They covered events both local and international and ranged from high-end productions in gold to token-like issues made in base metal.
Evans’s design focuses on a profile portrait of George III, which is based on that on his last coins. This portrait was created in red jasper and executed by Benedetto Pistrucci, an Italian cameo-engraver (1783-1855), and engraved at the Mint by Thomas Wyon, the elder (1767-1830). [fig.] The silver half-crown coins issued in 1816 featured the ‘bullhead’ portrait. 2] as part of a wider recoinage. Pistrucci also designed the St George and the Dragon, which have been featured on British gold sovereigns ever since they were first issued in 1817. George witnessed many important changes in the national coinage and how he depicted it during a time when there was a shortage of coins and metals from which to make them. This was especially true during the French Wars.
By the turn of the nineteenth century, medallic culture and art had reached their zenith. Medals were issued at various social levels to honor significant figures and as prizes by societies for innovation in agriculture, industry, commerce and natural sciences. Its dual purpose is what gave the medal its popularity. Medals could be used to confer social distinction and make the recipient a model for others. However, medals had a monetary value that was determined by the metal they were made. They could also be exchanged for financial rewards, which is not the case with honorary prizes. By the 18th century, medals were synonymous with achievement and prestige, from the Royal Society of Arts to local improvement clubs.
The popularity of medals grew and the designs evolved to suit the tastes and needs of their patrons. The earlier images that relied heavily upon the traditional traditions of medallic arts were replaced with icons and motifs that reflected the achievements for which they were to be presented. The demand for medals increased, resulting in structural changes to production locations and methods. Matthew Boulton established the Soho Mint in 1788, challenging the Royal Mint’s dominance as the largest producer of medals. This led to a new generation of engravers such as Conrad Heinrich Kuchler gaining market share. The steam-powered press, invented by Boulton, allowed medals to be mass produced in low-cost base metals. These prizes were given out in large numbers at local fairs, agricultural shows, and the designs reflected more closely on the communities and regional societies that they represented.
Despite this diversification in medallic design, the monarch’s image is still a common motif of medals from that period. Many medals bearing the portrait of the monarch were made during his reign. These medals show his patronage of these new institutions as well as his personal interests and his involvement in promoting improvement. The Arts Protected Medal was created in 1760 by Thomas Pingo (1714-1776), This admiration would be a constant after he founded the Royal Academy in 1768. The institution received 4 in 1797. It is a tribute to George III’s greatest passion, farming. This award was highly valued by estate owners across Britain and symbolized their patriotic duty to the nation as ‘patrons for the nation’.
It’s worth noting that George III was an avid medal collector throughout his entire life. His ‘Grand Medal Case” contained a variety of coins and medals from both ancient and modern times. It was the heart of the British Museum’s collection, which George IV bequeathed in 1825. A King issue is a great way to remember his life as a collector and recipient of multiple medals.
The death of George III was, in one sense, a challenge for those who wanted to commemorate the monarch’s passing. The king was in fact a cypher for almost a decade. After the death of Amelia, his daughter, the king experienced a return to the mental illness that he had suffered during his reign. But this time, there would not be any recovery. His sight was also failing and his hearing would also be affected. Some believe that senile dementia and porphyria may have contributed to his mental disorders. On 5 February 1811, George IV became regent. The king was no longer an actor in state affairs and was isolated from his children and queen. He was kept at Windsor by a series of attendants and physicians. His nation was only able to see him occasionally on the Windsor terrace or through reports to parliament and the Queen’s council. There are few images from this period of the reign of the king, and they do not provide a basis for celebratory portraiture. What iconographic means could you use to commemorate the death of the royal family?
Evans chose to highlight three aspects in George’s life that are far removed from his national and political responsibilities on the reverse of the current coin. This is only done through the formal framing structure and floral markers representing the four home countries and the inclusion of his royal cypher at its foot. To the right is the King’s Observatory at Richmond Park, built by George in 1769 to watch the transit of Venus. George and Charlotte did this on the 3rd June. The presence of livestock in front of the image is a sign that the King has agricultural interests. The left side shows Windsor Great Park. In the foreground is the “copper horse” statue of George III, which was erected on Snow Hill by George IV in 1831. This was in response to a request from Sir Richard Westmacott who received it in January 1821. This not only acknowledges the earlier death of the king, but also recognizes Windsor’s central role in George IV’s staging of monarchy. The statue of George III, ‘copper horse’, was erected on Snow Hill in 1831 following a commission from George IV to Sir Richard Westmacott in January 1821. The design, as a whole, portrays the king as intelligent and improving. This contrasts with the classicism of its portrait bust. Evans says that she felt it was important to include symbolism to reflect the life of a monarch and the mind of someone who was dedicated to discovering and progressing.
The commemorative medal designers in 1820 had to make similar decisions, but were more constrained by established conventions of medallic arts at the time. A few fine examples of George’s mental illness are preserved in the Royal Collection. These medals were created for the occasion according to Christopher Eimer.
A 4 cm medal was produced by the same Thomas Wyon, who engraved the portrait of the Bullhead. indicating George’s accession date. The reverse bears an elaborate composition that illustrates the biblical passage Matthew 25:21 “Enter thou in the Joy of the Lord” from the Parable of the Talents. The image shows a classically dressed crowd watching a man ascend into heaven in a fiery horse of a figure. This figure is identified by the Royal Collection Trust catalog entry as Elijah, but the crown on his head suggests that it is the king.
Sir Edward Thomason (1769-1849), Charles Jones (from their Birmingham jewelry and medal-making workshop) produced a second medal roughly the same size. It was engraved by John Marrian. Thomason, the son of a Birmingham bucklemaker and an apprentice to Matthew Boulton, began his apprenticeship before setting up his own factory to make fancy buttons. Thomason’s medal shows George in profile, wearing armor and a cloak, with his Latinate name. The reverse shows Britannia leaving aside her spear, British shield, and mourning the king, while the crowned corpse is visible in a classical grave above his dates, assimilation, and death.
A third, and more exquisite bronze medal [fig. A third, much finer bronze medal , measuring almost 5 cm in size, is listed in the Royal Collection Trust catalog to Conrad Heinrich Kuchler, a German-born engraver . He was the house medal engraver for Matthew Boulton’s Soho Mint, Birmingham. His work includes the bust and portrait of George for the ‘cartwheels’ coins. This is George again in a cuirasse, with a latin inscription describing his role as king and defender of the faith. The reverse shows a palm wreath around another latin inscription, giving the dates of birth, accession, and death. It’s under the motto of “Pater Patriae ”, (Father to the Country). Kuchler was ten years ahead of George, so the attribution is a problem. However, the portrait bust of George is actually by Kuchler. It bears his initials and is made from a die that was used in Kuchler’s medals which commemorate the victories of 1798, Union of Great Britain & Ireland in 1801 and Peace of Amiens (1792). J. G. Pollard argued that the reverse depicts George in a palm wreath around another latin inscription giving dates of birth, accession and death.
The former marine and future Australian landowner, Major James Mudie and the engraver Thomas Webb created a striking 4.12 cm meda. This is George in an ‘antique’-wrapped portrait by Webb. The motto ‘Hoc auspice orbis Salus’ is hard to translate, but it conveys the idea of ‘The augur for the world’s success’. The reverse featured a lengthy text that included the dates of birth, accession and death, as well as the observation that the monarch died after ‘full of years and honors, sufferings and loved & lamented the British nation’. The obverse’s 1817 date reflects that the portrait was taken from a medal that Mudie issued in the same year. This was part of his financially disastrous speculative commission to various artists to produce an annual subscription series of forty national medals’ struck at Thomason’s factory in Birmingham. These medals were sold individually and as a boxed set (40 if in silver and 40 if bronze), and at 20 guineas each if they were in gold. The reverse of this edition, by the French engraver Alexis Joseph Depaulis (1792-1867), featured an image featuring figures that ‘personify Religion and Faith, if not Honesty. These images, together with the rock behind Britannia’s cornucopia, rudder and cornucopia, suggest that Religion, Integrity and Constancy have successfully steered Britannia through all her dangers to the present period Another medal [fig. Another medal [fig. 11] is also available. It is smaller in diameter (2.66cm) but survived both in bronze as well as in silver. This is a portrait of an older king in the Windsor uniform that George III introduced in 1777 to be used by the court. It also includes details about his accession, birth and death. The reverse features a simple wreath around the text “He has run his courses and sleeps in blessings”. This is a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry VII. It comes from Act II, Scene III, where Wolsey reacts to the news from Cromwell about Sir Thomas More’s appointment at his place, with a reflection on the future.
The medals were the last in a long line of commemorative medals that George issued during his reign. The list of events that were commemorated is impressive, even if you omit the many that were related to the king’s personal life and opinions. Christopher Eimer records medals related to the following: George III’s accession (3), George the ‘protector’ of the arts (1760) [see fig. 3]; The marriage of George to Charlotte, 1761 (3); The coronation of George III ((4) and of Charlotte (1)); Charlotte’s 18 th birthday (1762); George’s recovery in 1789 (4), his preservation from assassination, 1800; two portrait medals commemorating the new century in 1800; George’s recovery in 1801; the visit of Prince Regent (1811); and a family portrait marking the centenary of House of Brunswick, 1816. This provided a rich context for numismatic storytelling, to which the medals related to George’s passing added a flourish.
What can we make of the icons and text used in the medals that relate to George’s passing? They outlined George’s vital and regnal dates, but they also highlighted the importance of the reassuring social and political stability as well as personal steadfastness that George’s reign was to be. This was important for those in the propertied class who were likely to buy such items. Many of them had survived the American and French Revolutions as well as the threat of invading France and national humiliation during the French Wars. These medals reaffirmed a theme that was already discussed at the 1809-10 jubilee celebrations. It is evident that many had a more negative view of the sovereign. However, this aspect matches Linda Colley’s important argument regarding the ‘apotheosis of George III in the middle period. This was when a monarch controversially involved in political competition in 1760s-80s emerged after his bout with illness in 1788-9 as an emblem of national unity. He was not such an active force in politics. The identification of George with the British nation took time. Medals that focused on George’s person during his reign are evidence of an effort to promote this equivalence. Not only is there no direct reference to Hanover but also the colonies. This added an additional dimension to the vision. George had not only survived, but also suffered so much. The Webb/Mudie medal’s inscription is especially telling. It could refer to George’s illness, his family bereavements, quarrels, or political setbacks or all three.
The strong Christian influence in the iconography is another striking feature, which contrasts with the secular 2020 coin. Two medals that are not part of the royal collection add to this point. The first, British Museum 1870.0507.1607777, was made by Thomas Kettle (d.1829), a die maker of Huguenot stock and again worked in Birmingham. The 2.5 cm medal featured a portrait of King George with the motto “God protects those who are just” and the reverse contained the key regnal dates. Kettle had used this image as a medal to commemorate his jubilee. A second version (British Museum 1945.1102.1) replaced the king’s regnal dates with an impressive design of the crown with rays emanating in Hebrew from the name Jehovah. This medal was accompanied by the complete text of the Lord’s Prayer (fig. 12]. 12).
ALL POOR CHILDREN IN HIS DOMINIONS CAN READ THE BIBLE.” These serve as a reminder of George’s personal piety. In recent years historians have started to re-emphasize it as both a crucial context for understanding George’s actions in other areas and as a basis for loyalty among the majority Anglican population of England. Protestants applied the title of “Defender of Faith” in the Soho mint medal to George, who had opposed Catholic Emancipation during the first two years of the nineteenth century. It was likely that militant protestants had a similar feeling about the king going to his deserved reward in heaven. This was not only true for the established church, which was advancing its missionary efforts to both the Irish catholic community and the heathen. These themes of Christian commitment, national alignment, and Christian devotion were reflected in Mudie’s coin. It insists that “Religion and Integrity have steered Britannia through all her dangers”. Wyon’s also included a quotation from the parables of the talents which is a crucial biblical discussion on stewardship.
We might also notice the differences in the depiction of the king on these coins. These variations are evidently present in the context of well-established traditions in numismatic portraiture. They also owe something to the risks and costs involved in creating new images instead of reusing existing ones. This should caution one from reading too much into archaism. They do capture some of George’s reign as it is at the edge of modern times. The medals that were associated with George’s death show three types of images: an intentionally ‘ancient” portraiture, which draws on the conventions classical imagery; a modern form, which, in its use cuirasses, cloaks, harks back to an early modern European model of military monarchy; and an anonymous medal depicting the king wearing the Windsor uniform, which suggests a different understanding about cultural authority in an age when statesmen would adapt the conventions associated with the ruling.
A twenty-first century audience will notice the absence of George III’s representations on these commemorative medals and coins. This is the dark underbelly that nourished the Hanoverian monarchy, its ‘enlightened court culture’, and the brutal militarism, gender, and class inequalities. The 2020 coin is silent like the 1820 one. Although the absence may be inevitable, it should not detract from the importance of making sure that these important dimensions of George III are appropriately weighed. Kara Walker’s dramatic and thought-provoking play on George’s Grand-daughter Queen Victoria’s commemoration, her installation Fons Americana at Tate Modern, London, will be on display until April 2020.
