Anton Schäffer

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Anton Schäffer (* 1722 in Düsseldorf , † 1799 presumably in Mannheim ) was an Electoral Palatinate court medalist , coin engraver and mint master .

Live and act

Commemorative medal for the founding of the Palatinate Academy of Sciences, 1763

He was the son of Copenhagen- born, Electoral Palatinate medalist and Münzwardein Wigand Schäffer (1687-1758). Under his father he worked as a coin engraver in Mannheim from 1748, in 1766 he became a mint councilor and also held the office of mint master. From 1770 Schäffer also worked as a teacher at the Mannheim Drawing Academy , from 1788 onwards he was its permanent secretary. Anton Schäffer died in 1799, probably in Mannheim.

Many of the Palatinate coins of his time were designed by him. After his father's death under Elector Karl Theodor he was the most important coin designer in the Electoral Palatinate. His works are mostly marked with the coin and medal signature "AS" , sometimes just with an "S" . Among other things, he created the Electoral Palatinate-Bavarian vicariate coins from 1797, but also the Rheingoldmedal for the inauguration of the Jesuit Church Mannheim in 1760 , the medal for the establishment of the Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences in 1763 and the medals for the 400th anniversary of Heidelberg University in 1786 . In 1758, the elector commissioned Anton Schäffer with the production of a series of portraits of the rulers of the Electoral Palatinate comprising 30 Rhine gold medals , beginning with Ludwig the Kelheimer and ending with elector Karl Theodor himself. Anton Schäffer produced all of the dies for this, partly designed by his father Wigand Schäffer. The medal texts to honor the ruler depicted come from Johann Daniel Schöpflin .

Schäffler also created the stamps for the popular and particularly valuable river gold ducats for Elector Karl Theodors of the Palatinate, which can be recognized by the inscription SIC FULGENT LITTORA RHENI - "This is how the banks of the Rhine shine".

Other rulers also had Schäffer designed coins and medals. For example, Emperor Franz I Stephan received a golden medal to commemorate his meeting with the Hessian Landgrave Ludwig VIII , Princess Abbess Franziska Christine von Pfalz-Sulzbach in Essen in 1776 a silver medal for her 50th anniversary in government, or the Diocese of Speyer its medal for the vacancy of the Sedis by 1770.

literature

  • GK Nagler: New general artist lexicon or news of the life and works of painters, sculptors, builders, engravers, form cutters, lithographers, draftsmen, medalists, ivory workers, etc. , Volume 15, p. 99 and 100, Munich, 1845; (Digital scan)
  • Wilhelm Doerr: Semper Apertus. Six Hundred Years of Ruprecht-Karls- Universität Heidelberg , Volume 1, p. 515, Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 3642704778 ; (Digital scan)
  • Heinrich Bolzenthal: Sketches on the art history of modern medal work (1429-1840) , p. 250; Heymann Verlag, Berlin, 1840; (Digital scan)
  • Arne R. Flaten: Medals and Plaquettes in the Ulrich Middeldorf Collection at the Indiana University Art Museum: 15th to 20th Centuries , p. 160 u. 161, Indiana University Press, 2012, ISBN 0253001161 ; (Digital scan)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ L. Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists . Schaeffer, Anton. tape V . Spink & Son Ltd, London 1912, p. 347 f . (English).
  2. ↑ General Artist Lexicon , Part 2, Volume 5, Zurich, 1810, p. 1466 a. 1467; (Digital scan)
  3. ↑ City Archives Mannheim: CITY POINTS - Mannheimer history on site, Kurpfälzische Academy of Sciences , with medal of Anton Schaffer (PDF 596 kB).
  4. ↑ Photo of one of the signed university medals
  5. ↑ PDF page on the ruler's medals with a picture of the last medal ( memento from November 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  6. Jump up ↑ Close- up of a silver mark on the medal on Elector Friedrich I of the Palatinate
  7. ^ Carl Lepper: Die Goldwäscherei am Rhein , Heppenheim, 1980, pp. 129-148, ISBN 3-922781-64-0
  8. ^ Johann Jakob Spieß: Small contributions to… coin science , Anspach 1768, p. 56; 57; 72; 87; 88
  9. ↑ Website with illustration and description of the magnificent medal
  10. ↑ Close-up of the magnificent medal
  11. ↑ Website with a picture of the medal
  12. ↑ Illustration of the medal
personal data
SURNAME Schäffer, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medalist, coin engraver and graphic artist in the Electoral Palatinate
DATE OF BIRTH 1722
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH 1799