news for the Friends of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Transcription

1 news for the Friends of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry Issue 38 Winter 2013 BEFORE- AND AFTER! The Library and Museum s project team, Suzannah Musson and Nina Nethercott, assisted by Lydia Greenwood and with overall supervision by Emma Roberts, the Collections Manager and Mark Dennis, Curator, have completed our year long Celebrating Medals project cataloguing nearly 2000 commemorative art medals from many different countries. All their records and images of all the medals can be seen in our online catalogue. In addition the team organised a display case in the museum which juxtaposes medals with other rarely seen items from the collections often using the same designs. Other medals are also on display as part of our current exhibition Excellent Companions: Celebrating the Royal Arch. For what we called Medals Month in November a series of seven talks and handling sessions were held. Just a few of those talks are reproduced in this edition of the Newsletter. Suzannah and Nina have kindly agreed to return early in 2014 to host a special Medals evening for the Friends of the Library and Museum details are on the last page. The grant from Arts Collection England which has covered the costs of this project also enabled us to re-store the medal collection, moving it from a series of wooden trays to special storage in acid free boxes and a new secure drawer unit. This also enables us to find the medals more easily!.

2 Identity badges and the universal language of symbols by Suzannah Musson Heraldry has long been used as a type of identity badge using symbolism relating to people, places and institutions. It is significant because it does not require written language and therefore could be described as a universal communicative tool. Medals have historically been struck to commemorate people, places and events and often contain heraldic elements associated with these. Masonic medals are no exception. Trust. The Antients coat of arms, first recorded in 1751, depicts the traditional symbols of the four Evangelists on a central shield. Above is the Ark of the Covenant and two cherubim supports at either side. The motto for this arms is in Hebrew reading, Kodesh lo Adonai, meaning Holiness to the Lord. When the Moderns and Antients Grand Lodges joined together in 1813 they also combined their coats of arms (depicted bottom right, 1901) with a new motto in Latin reading Aude, Vide, Tace, meaning Hear, See, Be silent. These three medals show the clear transition from two Grand Lodges into the United Grand Lodge of England. Outside of England the heraldry of Grand Lodges can become more complex. In Germany, for example, masonic medals often portray multiple shields depicting the logos, or badges, of Grand Lodges. The reason for this is that throughout Germany s masonic history there have been multiple Grand Lodges in existence at the same time within different regions of the country. Unity of Grand Lodges. Top left: coat of arms of the Moderns Grand Lodge. Top right: coat of arms of the Antients Grand Lodge. Bottom: coat of arms of the United Grand Lodge of England prior to 1919 If a selection of medals is taken from a long enough period of time it is possible to trace, for example, the evolution of Grand Lodges, using a masonic timeline through symbols. The medals depicting the Moderns and Antients coat of arms above were both struck in the 18th century. The Moderns arms, first recorded in 1730, was modified from the that of the Worshipful Company of Masons (one of the livery companies in the City of London). It depicts a chevron overlaid by a pair of compasses, which is one of the stonemasons tools adopted into freemasonry, and three castles. These castles remind us of the work of stonemasons and the impressive structures built by highly skilled workers. There is also a motto for this coat of arms, In the Lord is all our Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller ( ) and shields of eight German Grand Lodges, Library and Museum News is published by the Library and Museum of Freemasonry (Charity No: ) three times a year. Correspondence to: The Editor, Library and Museum News The Library and Museum of Freemasonry Freemasons Hall 60 Great Queen Street London WC2B 5AZ libmus@freemasonry.london.museum 2

3 The 1905 medal depicting Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller ( ), who was a celebrated German literary figure in the 18th century, demonstrates the multiplicity of Germany s Grand Lodge system. Encircling the central image are shields bearing the badges of the eight recognised German Grand Lodge in existence before These can be further separated into two categories: the Three Old Prussian Grand Lodges and the Humanitarian Grand Lodges. The Three Old Prussian Grand Lodges (depicted left, 1840) are the oldest in Germany and were all founded in Berlin between 1740 and The symbols used in their badges are representations of masonic emblems and also of harmony to show their status as the oldest Grand Lodges in Germany and also their combined efforts to promote freemasonry. The Humanitarian Grand Lodges were founded in different regions of Germany between 1811 and As there were certain religious restrictions preventing membership to the Prussian Grand Lodges the Humanitarian Grand Lodges accepted freemasons from all denominations. The badge most frequently depicted on German masonic medals is that of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, one of the Humanitarian Grand Lodges founded in It depicts a hand holding the device of the Grand Lodge, which is a Grand Lodge of Hamburg pair of compasses and a sector within a star. Symbols used on masonic medals, including those found in heraldry, have both literal and metaphorical meanings. They can be used to deliver a masonic message that can be recognised and understood by people all over the world regardless of the language they speak. Some of the earliest symbols adopted into freemasonry are stonemasons tools, which are often found on medals grouped together alongside architecture. A medal struck for Lodge l Immortalité de l Ordre in the late 18th century (depicted right) depicts a stonemason at work surrounded by his tools, including a level, set square, rule and a pair of compasses. Stonemasons tools were some of the first physical and symbolic elements to be adopted into freemasonry. However, from around 1770 there was an expansion of freemasonry throughout Europe and with this more diverse and elaborate symbolism began to appear. The increased number of symbols being used in masonic imagery led to complex medal designs being produced. This also raises an important issue whereby many symbols used in freemasonry are not invented by or exclusive to freemasonry, but can be used in different contexts and would then take on different meanings. Certain non-masonic medals that came into the collection at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry were initially thought to be masonic because of such ambiguity, especially if there was little known about why the medals were initially struck. One medal (depicted right) came into the collection in 1902 and was described as masonic because of symbols represented on it, including acacia and stonemasons tools. Acacia is a symbol of immortality and stonemasons tools, as Non-masonic German medal, 19th century practical instruments of measurement and construction, are metaphorical symbols used by freemasons to judge their behaviour. However, this medal was likely struck for a group involved in the arts and literature (which group, however, is unknown), the symbols therefore referring to this field instead. Nonetheless, symbols used in medallic art are integral to identification (such as in the case of Grand Lodge heraldry) and also communicating masonic teaching. They can be used literally and metaphorically but with so many symbols appearing on images this can sometimes lead to confusion over their interpretation. However, through researching the medals collection there have been many instances where pictorial representations have aided in the discovery of new information about freemasons or freemasonry throughout the world and they are therefore important additional reference points for masonic history. 3

4 The Art Union of London: Medals Makers and Masons by Nina Nethercott Art Union of London Medal featuring John Bacon and his statue of Samuel Johnson Eight medals struck by the Art Union of London were found in the museum s collection during the cataloguing project. There is one silver and seven bronze medals ( ). Initially there seemed to be little connection between freemasonry and these medals, which commemorate predominantly 18th century British artists, sculptors and architects. However, further research brought to light some intriguing links to the craft, which are addressed in this article. The Art Union of London was founded in 1836 by Lewis Pocock ( ) and George Godwin ( ). Pocock was a freemason and a member of Lodge of the Nine Muses, No. 235, but no membership record for Godwin has been found. Prior to the AUL, there had been Art Unions established across the Continent as well as in Edinburgh (1833) and Liverpool (1834). The overall aim of the AUL was to increase awareness of art, fuel interest in it and contribute to the patronage of it particularly amongst the middle class. It was organised as a subscription society, where members paid one guinea for membership. This included receiving a large engraving and a draw in the lottery of art prizes held annually in April, which also resulted in an exhibition. In 1842 a project known as the Medallic Series of the History of British Art was initiated by AUL. These medals were predominantly struck in bronze and were an alternative to the engraving subscribers received. Silver variations were offered as secondary prizes in the art lottery draw. It was hoped that these medals would encourage die-makers and engravers in their craft and improve their skills to compete with European standards. Several of the medals were made by the notable Wyon family of medallists. The first medal of the series was made by William Wyon ( ). It was that of Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey ( ). William Wyon was appointed Assistant Engraver at the Royal Mint in 1816 and later went on to become Chief Engraver in 1828 and a Royal Academician in 1838.Another example in the collection was made by William s brother, Benjamin Wyon ( ), who was appointed Chief Engraver of Seals in It features the architect Sir John Vanbrugh ( ) and Blenheim Palace. Other contributions to the collection were made by their sons; Leonard Charles ( ) and Joseph Shepherd ( ). As medals are very tangible and easily handled objects, this collection would have acted as effective advertisement tools for AUL. It is thought that the entire original grouping for the project came to 29 medals, which were subsequently re-struck in later years. The general medal design features a bust on the obverse and a reference to or replica of a painting, sculpture, or building on the reverse. There are no masonic emblems or designs featured on the medals. The only connection to freemasonry is through the depicted sitter. For example, the confirmed freemason and 18th century artist William Hogarth ( ). Although Hogarth s place and date of initiation is unknown he was documented in 1725 as being a member of Hand and Apple Tree Lodge in Little Queen Street and in 1730 as a member of Bear and Harrow Lodge in Butcher Row. In 1735 he also became a member of Grand Steward s Lodge. The reverse of the AUL medal featuring 4

5 Hogarth depicts a scene from his painting Canvassing for Votes from An Election, years thereafter it would have been quite commonly believed that Wren was indeed a mason. Another connection to freemasonry is seen with the medal of Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey ( ), who was initiated on 5th April, He was a member of Lodge of Union, No. 218 (now 166) and Somerset and Inverness Lodge, No. 4 (now Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge, No. 4). On the reverse of the medal is a depiction of his sculpture of the Scottish inventor and engineer, James Watt ( ). A further masonic link is that on 18th June, 1824 a meeting was held at Freemasons Hall to decide where the statue would be erected. The architect Sir Charles Barry ( ), designer of the Houses of Parliament, or Westminster Palace, is also featured in the AUL medal collection. Although only a freemason for a short period ( ), he was still initiated and had been a member of Royal Clarence Lodge, No. 511 (now 271), in Brighton. Unfortunately there is no museum documentation attesting to how these medals came into the collection, other than being listed in Major Sir Algernon Tudor-Craig s 1938 Catalogue. They must have entered the collection prior to this date. However, as many of the medals feature possible and known freemasons, it seems likely that this group of medals were collected by a freemason. Although speculative, these masonic links raise interesting questions as to why this set of medals were grouped together. Were they brought into the museum as a group or individually? Were they acquired or donated? Were they collected by a freemason and AUL member or both? These are questions that currently remain unanswered and may remain so. This is also what makes this group of medals such an interesting subject within the Art Medal collection. There is also a medal featuring Sir Christopher Wren ( ) and St Paul s Cathedral. This medal is a particularly good example of the speculation surrounding possible masons in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is no concrete evidence to confirm his involvement with freemasonry. However, James Anderson s Constitutions of 1738 claims that not only was Wren a mason, but he was also Grand Master in Similarly, William Preston confirmed Wren to be a mason in his Illustrations of Masonry in He even stated that Wren had been President of St. Paul s Lodge. In the 1880 s Robert Freke Gould concluded that these earlier sources were unreliable in his A Concise History of Freemasonry. Therefore, although there is some documentation that may imply Wren s involvement in the craft it cannot be confirmed. However, this medal was produced in 1846, prior to Gould s publication. Thus, in this time and for forty Wax portrait bust of Sir Christopher Wren The collection also includes two unique 18th century wax portrait busts both acquired in They were made by the sculptor John Flaxman ( ) and first exhibited in the third ever exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1771 when Flaxman, just sixteen years old, was studying at the Royal Academy schools. They feature the portraits of Inigo Jones ( ) and Sir Christopher Wren. Both Flaxman and Jones also feature in the original AUL medal collection but neither of their medals are amongst the Library and Museum s AUL collection. 5

6 Sadler's sources: Expansion of the Medal Collection at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry by Emma Roberts Since the beginnings of the Library and Museum in 1837, the collections have seen steady growth. Today the Museum holds approximately 25,000 objects from various parts of the world in a variety of different forms and materials. One part of the collection that shows the worldwide spread of Freemasonry are the commemorative medals. In January 2013 the Library and Museum received funding from the Arts Council England to research catalogue the medal collection, which has not been looked at properly since the late 1930 s. This has involved a large amount of research including provenance of how the medals came into the collection and what the representations on them signify. The Library and Archives have been invaluable resources for this because there are a number of printed catalogues of medals and an important collection of correspondence about acquisitions to the Museum. In total 44 countries are represented through the medium of medals and as you would expect a large proportion of them are English. However what also became clear was that a substantial number of medals originated in Germany and at first it was unclear why or how they had come to be here. One of the correspondence files then revealed that between 1902 and 1905, Henry Sadler ( ), sub-librarian at Freemasons Hall was in correspondence with Carl Cornelius Wiebe ( ), Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg. Top: Henry Sadler. Bottom: Carl Cornelius Wiebe Sadler was the first proper curator of the Grand Lodge collections. In 1900 an extension to the Freemasons Hall site had created, for the first time, dedicated museum space and Sadler worked to expand the collections. As medals are small and could be stored easily, they offered an opportunity to add more items without taking up too much space. Lodge Fraternidade as Tres Luzes, Lisbon. Medal shows errors in the die-sinking process. Left: obverse representing Portuguese lodge badge. Right: reverse representing German lodge badge. Carl Cornelius Wiebe was a member of the Hamburgishe Zirkel-Correspondenz, a research group in Germany which produced, between 1898 and 1905 a series of seven catalogues published about medals and jewels from across the world. Europe and America. 6

7 Hamburgishe Zirkel-Correspondenz, Volume 1. Through compiling these catalogues Wiebe established a large network of masonic bodies and private collectors. Wiebe was also a member of the Correspondence Circle of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No 2076, of which Sadler was a member. Correspondence between the two men began on 19th July 1902 when Sadler wrote to Wiebe enquiring about obtaining medals for the Library and Museum. In Wiebe s response two days later he sent a list of medals he had available for sale. He used the Hamburgishe Zirkel-Correspondenz catalogues as a point of reference as they included photographs of the medals. Cost did not appear to be a problem to Sadler. The first batch of 22 medals cost 11/1/6, just over 1000 today. The cost of the medals do not appear in the detailed financial statements published by Grand Lodge at the time nor do the medals appear in the published lists of presentations and acquisitions which raises the question, as yet unanswered, about how they were funded. right. The Grand Lodge Concord (Darmstadt) is seated in the centre and is saying Down with you quarrelsome Brethren. The German Grand Lodge League, formed in 1872, was composed of representatives of eight of the German grand lodges. It represented an attempt to have a co-ordinated response to masonic issues such as the recognition of overseas grand lodges. The League met once a year in different cities but in 1901 the Grand Master of Grand National Mother Lodge of the Prussian States refused to hold the annual assembly. The Grand Masters of the other grand lodges, National Grand Lodge of Saxony based in Saxony, Grand Lodge Sun (Bayreuth), Mother Grand Lodge of the Eclectic Union (Frankfurt) and the Grand Lodge Concord went ahead with the meeting at Leipzig on 1st September They are all represented on the medal with the first letter of the places in which they were based together with the date of the meeting. The text BUNDESBLATT 1901 SEITE 410 relates to the official paper that was written as a response to the cancellation of the meeting. The medals collection at the Library and Museum was enriched by the relationship between Sadler and Wiebe and their surviving correspondence. Both men died within a year of each other in 1910/11 and the active acquisition of medals largely ceased. Within three years of Sadler s death, the two countries were at war and masonic relations between England and Germany were suspended for many years. The letters also provides background information about a number of medals. Wiebe asked Sadler to be careful about one particular medal which marked an acrimonious meeting of the German Grand Lodge League in Leipzig in He claimed that the medal was obtained by special order and was only given to trustworthy brethren and not meant for general circulation. This was because it was a satirical piece that demonstrated the state of masonic affairs in Germany at this time. The obverse (depicted top right) shows a depiction of three figures in conflict with one another. The left represents the Grand National Mother Lodge of the Prussian States also known as the Three Globes attacking the Grand Lodge of Hamburg on the Dispute between German Grand Lodges, Top: obverse. Bottom: reverse 7

8 Celebrating Medals Tuesday 25th February pm Freemasons Hall, London Free, guests welcome Booking advised A chance to get up close and hands on to some of the hundreds of medals researched and catalogued for the Celebrating Medals project in a series of short talks. Wine will be served FRIENDS EVENTS Schism Tuesday 1st April pm Freemasons Hall, London Free, guests welcome Booking advised Dr Ric Berman will discuss the creation of the Antients Grand Lodge and the influence of its Grand Secretary Laurence Dermott, Ireland and the London Irish on the development of freemasonry in the second half of the eighteenth century which he has explored in his most recent publication Schism (Sussex Academic Press 2013) Wine will be served Sir Alfred Robbins: Prime Minister of Freemasonry and the First World War Thursday 2nd October pm Freemasons Hall, London Free, guests welcome Booking advised Dr Paul Calderwood will talk about Sir Alfred Robbins and his role in Grand Lodge from 1913 to his death, looking in particular at the impact of the First World War. The evening will include a private view of the new Library and Museum exhibition on Freemasonry and the First World War which opens in September Wine will be served EVENTS BOOKING FORM Either your booking to libmus@freemasonry.london.museum or send this form to The Director The Library and Museum of Freemasonry Freemasons Hall 60 Great Queen Street London WC2B 5AZ You will receive confirmation of your booking EVENT Tuesday 25th February pm Celebrating Medals NUMBER OF PLACES Tuesday 1st April pm Schism Thursday 2nd October pm Sir Alfred Robbins: Prime Minister of Freemasonry and the First World War Your name and address: 8