Openen van de rijschool te Utrecht
Medium
striking (metalworking)
Dimensions
5.2; 57.82
About this artwork
Zilveren penning. Voorzijde: Wijsheid met spiegel in hand zittend naast pilaar tussen twee paar fasces; op achtergrond pas gestichte rijschool binnen omschrift; afsnede: opschrift. Keerzijde: gekroond wapenschild met op achtergrond rijschool binnen omschrift; daaromheen zes wapenschilden en omschrift.
Art Historical Context
**Opening of the Riding School in (1705)** Crafted by Dutch medallist Nicolas Chevalier in 5, this exquisite silver medal (52 mm in diameter, weighing 57.82 grams) commemorates the inauguration of Utrecht's new riding school—a significant civic achievement in the early 18th-century Netherlands. Struck medals like this were prized Renaissance and Baroque-era art forms, blending fine metalworking with symbolic storytelling. Chevalier's precise engraving captures a moment of local pride, reflecting Utrecht's prosperity amid the Dutch Golden Age's waning years, when equestrian facilities symboli...
About the Artist
Nicolas Chevalier · 1828–1902
Born in May 1828 of a Swiss father and a Russian mother. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres (1976) mentions that Chevalier left Saint Petersburg, Russia, for Lausanne, Switzerland, at the age of 17; Thieme-Becker mentions that from 1845 he was living in Lausanne.