Antoine VECHTE (1800-1868)

Three medals from the chaser's workshop, kept by his son-in-law, SCHMALZ, then by the painter Georges HAQUETTE (1852-1906), then by descent: 1/ Uniface medal for the winners of drawing schools in the British Empire, inscribed "for Success in the National Art - Competition" and "Victoria , Queen by the Grace of God - 1857". - a plaster print (or model?). Unsigned. Diameter: 14.5 cm. Wear, rubbing and a few chips. - a hollow copper electroplating print, patinated. Unsigned. Diameter: 14.5 cm. Wear and a few bumps. A copper print of this medal, without text, is in the Victoria & Albert Museum. 2/ Uniface medal featuring the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels above the profile of Pope Pius IX. Print (or model?) in patinated plaster. Signed lower left "A. Vechte Ivt et fecit" with a trace of the date "18..". Diameter: 16 cm. Wear and a few chips. This medal was commissioned in 1868 by the Vatican to commemorate the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, in 1854.