originality of this process (which has since been adopted by medallists) was disputed at the time by John Baddeley (Mechanics' Magazine, xxvii. 401), who claimed that it had been practised fifty years before by his grandfather at the Soho mint; but Pistrucci's claim was defended by William Baddeley (ib. xxviii. 36) and others (cf. Num. Journal, ii. 111 f.; Num. Chron. i. 53, 123 f., 230 f.). About 1824 Pistrucci's work on the coins had come to an end, but he continued to reside at the mint till 1849, when he went to live at Fine Arts Cottage, Old Windsor, subsequently moving to Flora Lodge, Englefield Green, near Windsor.
His sight remaining good, he continued his work on cameos. During his residence at the mint he had been permitted to make and sell cameos for his own benefit, and obtained high prices. He worked both in cameo and intaglio, but his intaglios are now very rare. He also devoted some time to sculpture, and made busts of several London friends, of the Duke of Wellington (now in the United Service Museum), and of Pozzo di Borgo. In 1850 he delivered to the master of the mint the matrices of the famous Waterloo medallion which he had been commissioned to undertake for the mint as early as 1817. He had for years worked at it in his leisure time, but the dies were never hardened, though impressions in soft metal and electrotypes were taken and sold to the public. For this medallion he was paid 3,500l., on the calculation that it required as much work as thirty or more ordinary medals, for which Pistrucci's usual charge was 100l.
The latter years of Pistrucci's life were tranquil and happy. He died at Flora Lodge, near Windsor, on 16 Sept. 1855, of inflammation of the lungs. He was chosen by the committee a member of the Athenæum Club in 1842, and received diplomas from the academy of St. Luke at Rome, from the Royal Academy of Arts at Copenhagen, and from the Institute of France. Pistrucci married, about 1802, a sister of Jacopo Folchi, the physician, and daughter of a rich Roman merchant. He had several children, of whom the two younger daughters, Elena and Maria Elisa (the latter married to Signor Marsuzi), attained reputation in Rome as cameo-engravers. One of the sons, Camillo, was a pupil of Thorwaldsen, and was employed by the papal government in the restoration of ancient statues. Pistrucci's elder brother Philip engraved skilfully on copper, and had a talent for musical and poetical improvisations. Thomas Moore (Diary, iv. 71) mentions one of these entertainments that he witnessed at Lady Jersey's.
Pistrucci, in his interesting autobiography (written about 1820 and translated in Billing's ‘Science of Gems’), describes himself as ‘very excitable, and unfortunately very proud with the artists of my own era.’ He was persevering and laborious, and often worked for fifteen hours a day. As a gem-engraver his reputation stands high, but subjects from the antique of the kind that delighted the collectors of his day will hardly again find favour. His work as a medallist has, in some points, been severely criticised—for instance, his ‘wiry’ treatment of hair. Yet he undoubtedly imparted to our coinage a distinction of style that had long been absent from it. To Pistrucci is due the partial substitution on the reverses of English coins of a subject-design for a merely heraldic device. His medals are not very numerous or important, with the exception of the Waterloo medallion, which is full of beauty and delicacy in detail, though it betrays its piecemeal composition in a certain lack of vigour and harmony as a whole. The statements that Pistrucci cut steel matrices for the coins with a lapidary's wheel and that he was taught die-engraving by the Wyons appear to be unfounded.
Pistrucci's works (omitting some already mentioned) are chiefly as follows:
Coins. Gold. 1. Sovereign of George III, 1817, 1818, 1820. 2. Pattern five-pound piece of George III, 1820. Only twenty-five were struck, and it is said that Pistrucci, on hearing of the death of George III, gave hasty orders for the striking off of a few specimens. 3. Pattern double-sovereign of George III, 1820. About sixty were struck (Crowther, Engl. Pattern Coins, p. 37). 4. Sovereign of George IV, and the reverse of the double-sovereign. Silver. 5. Crown of George III, 1818–20. 6. Pattern crown of George III. 7. Crown of George IV, 1821, 1822. Pistrucci's models in red jasper for the crown, shilling, and sovereign of George III are in the collection of the Royal Mint (Cat. of Coins and Tokens, Nos. 991–3).
Medals. 1. Coronation medal of George IV (official), 1821. 2. Lord Maryborough (Wellesley Pole) 1823. 3. George IV, rev. trident and dolphins; made for Rundell and Bridge, 1824. 4. Frederick, duke of York, medal and miniature medals, 1827. 5. Sir Gilbert Blane (the Blane naval medical medal), 1830. 6. Coronation medal of Victoria (official), 1838. 7. Coronation of Victoria, rev. ‘Da facilem cursum;’ made for Rundell and Bridge, 1838. 8. Duke of Wellington, rev. helmet, 1841. 9. Hon. John Chetwynd Talbot (specimen in Guildhall Library), 1853. 10. Design for Waterloo
