Jacob Wiener, or Jacques Wiener (27 February 1815, Hoerstgen – 3 November 1899,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

) was a Belgian

medallist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...

. He is best known for helping to create the first Belgian postage stamps, issued in 1849.

Biography

He was the eldest of ten children born to the merchant Marcus Mayer (1794-?) and Hanna Baruch (1791-?), the daughter of an engraver. They adopted the name "Wiener" (Viennese) in 1808, when Jews were first given the right to have fixed family names. He was only two when they moved to

Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...

, in the Netherlands. At the age of thirteen, he went to

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

to learn drawing and engraving from his uncle, Loeb Baruch (1789-1863). After some time in Paris to complete his training, he settled in Brussels in 1839 and became a naturalized Belgian citizen. In 1845, he married Annette Levy Newton (1816-1891), of English origin. They had four children. Their son, , was a notable lawyer and politician. His work on monuments, and for various cathedrals throughout Europe, made his reputation grow until, in 1849, he was commissioned to help create the first set of Belgian postage stamps (known as

Epaulettes Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''shoulder scales ...

). They featured a portrait of King Leopold I, drawn by

Charles Baugniet Charles-Louis Baugniet (; 27 February 1814 – 5 July 1886) was a Belgian painter, lithographer and aquarelle, aquarellist. His name remains attached to the lithographing of portraits of famous and lesser-known figures from Belgium, France and E ...

and engraved by

John Henry Robinson John Henry Robinson (1796–1871) was an English engraver. Life He was born at Bolton, Lancashire and was brought up in Staffordshire. At the age of 18 he became a pupil of James Heath, for about two years. Robinson was one of the nine eminen ...

. In addition to producing the final design, he also served as a consultant on their manufacture and the means of preventing forgeries. He often worked together with his brothers, and , who were also engravers and medallists. Around 1870, his constant use of a magnifying glass began to affect his eyesight. By 1872, he had gone blind. His sight was partially restored through

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens (anatomy), lens of the eye that leads to a visual impairment, decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or ...

surgery but, in consideration of a possible relapse, he was forced to give up his trade in 1874.Jacques Wiener, graveur en médailles
, in: ''Revue belge de numismatique'', Brussels, 1882. He spent his last twenty-five years doing charitable and organizational work for the Jewish community of Belgium. He was a Knight in the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

, Engraver to the King, and President of the . He is interred at the

Cimetière d'Ixelles Ixelles Cemetery (, ; ), located in Ixelles in the southern part of Brussels, is one of the major cemeteries in Belgium. ''Ixelles Cemetery'' also refers to a neighbourhood with a lot of bars and restaurants for students, north of the actual c ...

"Mémoire de Jacob Weiner, inventeur du premier timbre belge",
Online
@ the

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiener, jacob 1815 births 1899 deaths 19th-century medallists 19th-century Belgian engravers Artists from North Rhine-Westphalia Jewish engravers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links