Who was MOSSOP, WILLIAM ?

MOSSOP, WILLIAM (Brit.). Medallist of the second half of the eighteenth century, born at Dublin in 1751, died there either in 1804 or 1806. The following particulars are borrowed from Frazer's work On the Medallists of Ireland and their Work. “ The name of Mossop's father was Browne, and when he died, his widow married W. Mossop, a relation of the popular actor and stage-manager, Henry Mossop. The father of her child having been a Roman catholic, she changed his name, to obtain admission for him into the Blue Coat School, to that of her second husband. On leaving this school, about 1765, he was apprenticed to a Mr. Stone, die-sinker, who made seal-dies for the Linen Board, and work of similar description, upon which he kept young Mossop occupied. At this time, the trade of die-sinking in Dublin was remunerative; for there was much demand for buttons struck in metal, which was so well paid that the workmen who fabricated heavy gilt buttons (then in ordinary use for gentlemen and their servants' liveries) were able to earn large wages, and seldom worked above three or four days each week, spending the rest of their time in idleness and drinking. Stone was of intemperate habits, which caused his death; and his son, following the father's example, likewise soon killed himself. The entire support of unfortunate Stone's family devolved on Mossop. He continued to work for the Linen Board up to 1781, when a change took place in the management of the board ; and the dismissal of their secretary led to a system of contract, which deprived him of his employment at a time when, having married, he was burdened with a young family. A circumstance occurred about this period which in a material degree influenced the course of Mossop's life. He was requested to value a collection of medals for some friend, who contemplated purchasing them ; and becoming much interested in their execution, when his friend declined to do so, he secured the collection himself. Their possession excited in him the desire to make similar beautiful works of art; and thus his labours as a medallist commenced. He carried his ambitious design into execution without delay, and the result proved how wisely he had selected his proper vocation. The medal he first produced was that of Mr. Ryder, a well-known popular actor in Dublin, which was made in 1782; and when we consider that this premier essay was executed by a person who had no previous training in such a peculiar and special department, that the modelling of the portrait, and its subsequent engraving on a steel die, were due to the unaided development of his skill and natural talent, resulting in a finished work deserving of high commendation, and one that placed him in the rank of a medallist of exceptional ability, it must be admitted we are describing the history of a man of genius, far beyond the average standard. The portrait of Ryder was, by general consent, considered a striking likeness.There is a rather rare engraving, which may have possibly aided Mossop's modelling — and, no doubt, he enjoyed opportunities of studying his appearance when acting on the stage — but we have no evidence that he was permitted to model Ryder's face from a life-sitting; and if this be so, the result is still more surprising and exceptional. When the medal was completed, it was inspected and admired by crowds of citizens; yet it is related that, after the lapse of several months, there was only a single medal sold : whether this is correct or not, it is beyond question that it is seldom met with at present. Soon after he executed a medal — still more scarce, of which I know only a solitary impression in the Royal Irish Academy — that, with side busts, of the Right Hon. John Beresford and his wife. “ Two works of such marked excellence succeeding each other attracted the notice, and, better still, the assistance and friendship of Dr Quin, advantages which to Mossop's serious disappointment, were soon lost by the death of his influential friend and benefactor, of whom he completed a medallic likeness, at the request of Mr. Wade, one of his patients, in grateful acknowledgment of his recovery from a severe illness. Dr Quin contemplated the idea of sending Mossop to Boulton's great mint works in Birmingham ; but his death put an end to this arrangement. In Gilbert's History of Dublin (Appendix to Vol. II) there is a detailed list of most of Mossop' s works, compiled by his son, and collated by Dr A. Smith, with the assistance of private letters, which formed the first reliable record of his labours. In the year 1784, Mossop resided at 13 Essexguay. He modestly describes his occupation as " letter-cutter and die-sinker ". He was subsequently employed by the firm of Camac, Kyan and Camac (1793) in coining into halfpence the copper which they obtained from their property, the Wicklow Copper Mines. There was a scarcity of copper at that period, owing to the restricted working of the Royal Mint, which led to numbers of traders striking private tokens throughout England and Ireland. Amongst them, the Dublin Company of Camac competed so largely that, to a great extent, at least in Ireland, they displaced the royal coinage, and the phrase, " a Camac " became for several years synonymous with a halfpenny. Mossop was engaged in making their dies and superintending the practical working of their private mint. The subsequent failure of this firm, in addition to the loss of his appointment, entailed on him serious pecuniary loss. In 1797 he returned to his occupation as a private die-sinker, and so long as work could be obtained he continued his laborious and littleappreciated toil. " The celebrated sculptor, Edward Smith, was a friend of Mossop's, and aided him by his council and designs in some of his medals. “ It is difficult to obtain information respecting the numerous seals of which Mossop prepared dies for different incorporated and other public bodies in Ireland. Several of these seals were executed in silver, and as they became disused were melted down for their intrinsic metallic value, and so destroyed. I have a small silver seal of the Irish Ordnance Department, which, I believe, is his workmanship. He engraved a few compositions in carnelian and on ivory; in the latter material he cut a small copy of the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, but I am unable to trace its present possessor. "Before cutting the steel die, Mossop was in the habit of executing in wax a careful model of the portrait or design he intended to complete. He employed wax softened with turpentine, and coloured white or brown, which was laid down on pieces of slate or glass, and accurately moulded to the intended form. In modelling figures, they were designed as a primary study, and the drapery laid on by subsequent stages. He thus preserved the positions of the limbs correct, however minute they were ; and the examples I have of his workmanship evince by their delicate manipulation the fineness of his touch and skill as a draughtsman- Several of his steel dies were still recently preserved in the possession of Mr. J. Woodhouse of Dublin, who follows the same interesting profession as a medallist. " The die-sinker John Jones (q. v. III, 82) continued to strike medals from Mossop's designs and dies after the death of that artist, which occurred at Dublin in 1804 or 1806, after a few hours' illness, from an attack of paralysis and apoplexy. Mossop's signature on coins and medals occurs in the following different forms: W. M. F.; — W. MOSSOP;— W. MOSSOP F.; — MOSSOP F.; — MOSSOP, or MOSSOP FECIT. List of the Artist's Medals & Coins. Thomas Ryder, actor; — Medallion of the Right Hon. John and Mrs. Beresford, 1788; — Henry Quin, M. D., 1789; — David La Touche, 1785; — William Alexander, 1785; — William Deane, 1785 ; — Edmund Sexton Viscount Pery (Dean Dawson states, that when Mossop had finished this medal, Lord Pery expressed himself highly pleased and inquired what remuneration he expected. On Mossop replying, "Twenty guineas ", he handed him a cheque for forty, remarking that he " considered the artist had not put a fair price on his work, and hoped he would be satisfied with what he thought proper to give ") ; — Cunningham Prize Medal of the Royal Irish Academy, with bust of Lord Charlemont, 1776; — Down Corporation of Horse Breeders, 1787; — Primate Robinson, Lord Rokeby, 1779; — Pattern for the Camac Halfpenny, 1793 (signed: MOSSOP F); — Camac Halfpenny, 1793 (illustrated); — Union Penny, 1789 (executed from a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds; only a few bronze proofs were struck (it is said, six only) when the die broke (illustrated); — Medals given at the Commencements, Trinity College, Dublin (2 var.), 1793; — Castlebar Medal, 1791; — Louis XVI., two types (signed: W. M. This and the next medals were copied from those by F. LOOS) — Marie-Antoinette, 1793 (signed : W.M.) ; — The Dauphin of France as Louis XVII, 1793 (W. M.); — Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette, 1793; — Medal of the Friendly Brothers of Saint Patrick (sev. var.); — Ticket of the Private Theatre, 1796 (sev. var.);— Ticket of the Private Theatre, undated (signed: MOSSOP) ; — Another, a Trial piece (signed : MOSSOP F.) ; — Medal of the Society for the promotion of Religion and Virtue, 1792; — Memorial Medal of Camden, 1794; — Dr Barret's School Medal ; — Tyrone Regiment, for soldierly Merit (one specimen was recently sold (1906) from Sir Henry Irving's collection); — Bantry Bay Medal (French Expedition to Bantry Bay) ; — Order of Orange and Blue (sev. var.); — Orange Association, with bust of William III., made in 1798 ; — The Hon. Henry St. George Cole, 1798 ; — Masonic School Medal (designed by the sculptor, Edward Smith; illustrated); — Medals of the College Historical Society (2 var.); — Mossop's Medal (History, Oratory, and Poetry; 2 varieties); — Dublin Society Medal; — Medals of the Farming Society of Ireland (3 var.), 1800; — Navan Farming Society Medals, 1800; — Irish Ordnance Medal, etc. The Portrait of Dr Quin was reproduced by the Tassies in paste. Bibliography. — William Frazer, The Medallists of Ireland and their Work. — Bolzenthal, op. cit. — Dictionary of National Biography. — Numismatic Chronicle, 1877- 1897 (English Personal Medals). — Raspe, op. cit. — Tancred, op. cit. — Gray, op. cit. — Davis, Nineteenth Century Token Coinage. — Murdoch Sale Catalogue, 1906. — Marvin, op. cit. — Medallic Illustrations, etc.

Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904

MITTERMAYER, MATTHIAS VON WAFFENBERG
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MNESARCHOS
MNESARCHOS (Greek). Son of Euphron or Euthyphron, and named as the father of Pythagoras. He is said to have been an Engraver of rings. According to some accounts, he was not of purely Greek origin, and may have belonged to the Tyrrhenians of Lemnos and Imbros. He died at the beginning of the tyranny of Polycrates, towards the middle of the sixth century B.C. (Diog. Laërt., VIII, 1). He cultivated the art of gem-engraving more for glory than for gain. Bibliography. — Babelon, op. cit. — King, op....
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MOCCHI, FRANCESCO
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MOCCHI, LORENZO CIGLIA
MOCCHI, LORENZO CIGLIA (Ital.). Sculptor and Medallist, of the end of the fifteenth century, who, according to the noteworthy conjecture of G. Milanesi may be identified with the so-called MÉDAILLEUR A LA FORTUNE (q.v. Vol. II, 127). Hern von Fabriczy does not pronounce against this attribution, which appears quite reasonable, as the medal of Lorenzo Ciglia Mocchi (illustrated) is signed on R. L.C.M., which initials can only represent the name of Mocchi. All the eight medals bearing on R. a nude...
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