HUGIJENOT ARTISTS DESIGNERS AND CRAYPSNEN IN GREAT ...

169.
THE HUGIJENOT CONTRIBUTION TO THE ART OF THE PORTRAIT
The art of the portrait can conveniently be treated as a separate
subject, for although the portrait was executed in a variety of different
techniques, varying from the more conventional half length or full length
painting, to sculpture in the round or in relief, miniature reliefs in
ivory, horn and silver, the medal, the wax model, the miniature,the
silhouette and the engraved portrait, these images were often based on
sources executed in different media, and as a result were influenced
by the characteristics of the rendering of the source used. Portraits
were also used as identification of property, much in the same way as
coats of arms, to decorate ornate personal possessions such as watches
and snuffboxes. Medallion portraits were often commissioned on the
death of a person of eminence, for circulation amongst the friends of
the deceased. The portrait of the reigning sovereign was used as a
patriotic ornamental device, and classical portrait busts in relief
were sometimes substituted for the more abstract mask as ornament on
silver.
It is therefore not surprising to find that Simon Gribelin's
presentation volumes contain much in the way of sources for this type
of decoration. The four plates of engravings of Greek and Roman medals
would have been used for ornamental decoration on silver and jewelry1
The centrepiace of 1733-k by Paul de Lamerie contains four such classical
heads, set in oval panels on each side of the oval bowl, alternated with
female masks. Whereas portrai ts often formed part of a large emblematic
engraving, such as the print of the Seven Bishops committed to the Tower,
in 1687, by Gribelin, which appears in its entirety in his large
presentation volume in the British Museum; whereas the smaller volume
contains the same portraits but as separate items divorced from their
original context thus intended for a purely decorative use. Gribelin
also produced engravings of contemporary medals, such as the print
of the medal cast by John Fowler to celebrate William III's victory
at Namur in 1695 (Plate 138)
Medallic sources were probably used for the medal-sized busts to
be found on the back of watches by David Lesturgeon, such as the
example in the British Museum (Plate 139) which was evidently made in
1702 to commemorate the coronation of the new Queen Anne. Although