Louis Le Gendre Medal – General Competition – Signed by Jacques Devigne (1925-2019, 1st Grand Prix de Rome in 1954)

Bronze

In its blue “Monnaie de Paris” box with transparent plastic presentation easel .

Weight: 102.2g

Diameter: 58 mm

Obverse:

Bust of Louis Le Gendre , priest, canon and sub-cantor of Notre-Dame-de-Paris and historiographer of France, accompanied by the date 1734 and the signature of the engraver DEVIGNE

Circular inscriptions:

LUDOVICUS. LEGENDRE . ECCLESIÆ. PARISIENSIS.

. CANONICUS.

History (source Wikipedia):

Louis Le Gendre, born in Rouen in 1655 and died in Paris in 1733, is a French historian and canon of Notre-Dame de Paris. From his childhood, he became the protégé of the Archbishop of Rouen, François de Harlay. He knew how to be grateful and devoted to his protector, who took him with him when he was called to the archbishopric of Paris in 1670. There, Le Gendre was made canon of Notre-Dame de Paris.

He is the author of several historical works.

Leaving at his death only collaterals of a very distant degree as heirs to a fortune which he did not derive from his family, and which he owed entirely to his erudition, he devoted to letters and the arts the fruit of his savings. Raised in Rouen by charity, enriched and recognized in Paris, he made these two cities his heirs. His most famous legacy, however, is that which he made to the University of Paris, and which is at the origin of the General Competition.

Reverse:

Circular inscription: . CONCOURS . GENERAL .

in the center, a prism surmounted by the date 1746 in front of a sun bearing the dates 1802 and 1922 in its rays.

At the bottom:

J. BENOIST

1984

History (source Wikipedia):
Since 1747 in France, the general competition has been a competition intended to reward each year the best students in the first and final year classes in the general high school competition, and apprentices in the general trade competition.

The origin of the general competition is a legacy made by Abbé Le Gendre, canon of Notre-Dame de Paris, to the University of Paris, with the responsibility for organizing a competition open to all every four years. crowning the most beautiful pieces of poetry and music composed to the glory of France and its great men. On the death of Le Gendre, in 1744, the University had Parliament ratify what must be called a distortion of the legacy allowing it to use it to organize an annual competition, open only to students of Parisian colleges and devoted to the disciplines that were taught there

Edge:

1984 + Hallmark Cornucopia (Monnaie de Paris) + BRONZE