100504 | BELGIUM. "Religion and Humanity or the Apocalypse" cast bronze Medal.

100504 | BELGIUM. Cast bronze Medal. Issued circa 1932/3. Religion and Humanity or the Apocalypse (70mm, 134.29 g, 12h). By J. Dupon for the Société Royale Les Amis de la Médaille d’Art.

 

TUTI QUOS SERVAT (safe are those who are guarded), Life: manus Dei emerging left from cloud, cradling two putti and protecting them from hissing coiled serpent below / Death: the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse; above, rayed Eye of Providence above clouds with inscription AD VITAM ÆTERNAM (to eternal life); below, skeleton lying left on groundline; in two lines in exergue, SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MVNDI (thus passes the glory of the world). Edge: J FONSON.

 

Buchet & Toussaint 61. Choice Mint State. Glossy yellow-bronze surfaces, with an alluring underlying luster. Rare, with a an issue of just 367 pieces in bronze.

 

Produced by the Friends of Medallic Art in Belgium, this powerful piece paints two drastically different, yet related, pictures. In the first, the manus Dei (hand of God) is seen protecting two cherubim from the evilness of the serpent below. In the other, the supine skeleton is the only earthly remains of the faithful, as the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse fly above and the devoted follower's passage into heaven is alluded to through the divine Eye.

 

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