Historical Medals

FRANCE, The Four Sergeants of La Rochelle, 1822, uniface bronze casts of the obv. and rev. of the medal by Pierre-Jean David d’Angers, portrait heads of the four soldiers flanking fasces, this topped with a Phrygian cap, rev. ‘La Liberté’ [Marianne], wearing Phrygian cap, placing wreaths on executioner’s block, alongside an axe, 90 and 89mm (Reinis 435, obv. only illustrated; cf. Chesneau 346, a "Grand Médallion", 46cm diameter; Bergot 159) [2]. Both pierced, much as made, good very fine, extremely rare
£120-£150

The two sides of the medal were made separately and are always found thus. The soldiers, Sergeant Major Jean Joseph Pommier (aged 26), Sergeant Martin Charles Bonaventure Raoulx (aged 22), Sergeant Charles Paul Goubin (aged 25), and Sergeant Major Jean François Louis Leclere Borié (aged 27), were condemned to death for conspiring against the Restoration government of Louis XVIII and the Bourbon monarchy. The medal was issued by David as une dette sacré to commemorate martyrs to the cause of liberty. His original concept was to erect a monument to their memory, but he was unable to raise the financial support needed. A drawing of the obverse was exhibited at the Frick Museum, "David d'Angers: Making the Modern Monument", 2013, No. 6, which shows the full names of the four soldiers below the truncation of each bust; a bronze specimen of the obverse was exhibited as No. 42, which also has the full names of the four soldiers.