Французский Парнас и серия медалей Симона Кюре в собрании Эрмитажа

The Numismatics Department of the State Hermitage possesses thirty two medals by the French sculptor Simon Curé (1681–1734) transferred from the Münzkabinet of the Kunstkammer, the first museum in Russia. These medals were a part of a large-scale project designed by Evrar Titon du Tillet (1677–1762), a talented erudite of the Enlightenment epoch, who suggested to erect a monument to the King Louis XIV, the Royal patron of French culture. The monument, twenty meters high, was to show Mount Parnassus topped by the figure of Roi Soleil as Apollo in the company of famous writers and musicians personifying Muses and Graces. The monument was to be decorated by medallions with portraits of composers and men of letters woven into a pattern of ivy, palm leaves and laurels. The author proposed to erect the monument in the centre of Paris, on the place now occupied by the Triumphal Arch.

The ambitious project has never been carried out; the model of the monument by the sculptor Garnier, one meter high, is now on display in the museum of Versailles. The French sculptor Curé cast thirty two medals after sketches by Garnier showing portraits of French men of letters and composers on the obverse and allegorical compositions on the reverse.

In 1758 Titon du Tillet presented to the Russian Academy of Sciences his book “The French Parnassus” – the edition of 1732 with additions made in 1743 and 1745. This voluminous work is an encyclopedia of French culture from the 13th century until 1753, containing biographies and characteristics of more than three hundred men of letters, actors and musicians. Along with the book, now to be seen in the library of the Academy, Garnier presented a box containing thirty seven medals, thirty two of which made up the French Parnassus series.

In return for this gift the Academy sent to Titon du Tillet several albums with engravings printed in the typography of the Academy of Sciences.

Few collections possess more than a single medallion from the series by Curé; the Kunstkammer complete series demonstrates the quality of the Hermitage collection of medals and shows how close cultural relations between Russia and France were in the 18th century.

Apart from the history of the series the article includes a catalogue containing a description of all the thirty two medals. As for the other five medals from the box sent to the Academy with he “Description of the French Parnassus”, their authors and subjects remain unidentified.