Resumen de Solving the mystery of ‘bauchery ft
François Roland Bauchery (1798-1863), the engraver of the ‘Death of the Duke of Reichstadt’ medal (Bramsen no. 1896), was born into a dynasty of Parisian ciseleurs who produced the bronze work for some of Louis XVI’s most beautiful furniture. His artistic talent and passionate personality, combined with the opportunities for social advancement created by the Bourbon Restoration, enabled him to climb the social ladder from ‘artisan’ to ‘artist’ as a medal engraver. The impact on French society of post-Napoleonic political and artistic preoccupations is reflected in the style and subject-matter of his medals. This period of social mobility also enabled Bauchery to become a poet, novelist, and finally, a playwright who, by 1847, could refer to himself as a ‘man of letters’.
