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France Embracing Alsace
Lamourdedieu, Raoul, born 1877 - died 1953 - Enlarge image
France Embracing Alsace
- Object:
Medal
- Place of origin:
France (made)
- Date:
ca. 1917 - ca. 1927 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Lamourdedieu, Raoul, born 1877 - died 1953 (medallist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Bronze
- Museum number:
A.68-1980
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This medal representing France embracing Alsace is made by Raoul Lamourdedieu.
Lamourdedieu (1877-1953) was a French sculptor and medallist. He studied at the art school in Bordeaux and at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He was professor of stone-carving at the École des Beaux-Arts and also active as a medallist. He used the obverse of this medal for another medal (The French Rhine) where the reverse depicts and armed sentry standing at the river.
The grateful nation France acknowledges the debt owed to its citizens and soldiers for their valour, and at the same time welcomes the return of Alsace to French jurisdiction. The regions of Alsace and Lorraine had been annexed by Germany in 1871, but under the terms, first codified in President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points for Peace of January 1918, and later ratified by the signing of the Armistice at Compiègne, the German High Command was compelled to relinquish these regions. At the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, the German negotiators request for a plebiscite in the regions was refused on 29 May, and the Treaty was finally signed on 28 June in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.
