FRANCE / CAPETIANS - FRANCE / ROYAL Louis XV (1715-1774). Medaillier des Ducs de Lorraine, set of 40 (36 + 1 + 3) medals by F. de Saint-Urbain c.1725-1735, Nancy. Av. Effigy of the Duke, au naturel, with his title (except for the first 5 Dukes whose exact effigy could not be found by Saint-Urbain); signature S. V. Rv. Effigy of the Duchesses, au naturel , with their titles (except for the first 5 Duchesses who are replaced by family trees, map of Lorraine and symbols). Beaupré, 1867, series I; Bronze - c.40 g - 46 mm - 12 h In addition to the 36 medals in the Ducs series (Beaupré 1 to 36), there is the 37th, with a module of 70 mm, showing the title of the series and the large coat of arms surrounded by small shields. Finally, there are 3 medals (out of 4, Beaupré 38, Nicolas d'Anjou is missing) which are supplements to this series: Nicolas de Vaudemont (Beaupré 39) and Charles V (Beaupré 40) and finally François III by Martin Donner this time (Beaupré 40 bis). The series is reconstituted by collection, with some differences in patina and quality. The set remains harmonious and complete with the 37 original medals. Overall, superb. Ferdinand de Saint-Urbain (1654 [or 1658]-1738), a native of Nancy, came from a family of apothecaries and goldsmiths. He started out as a draughtsman and architect, and left for Rome where he became engraver and architect to Pope Innocent XI, then Alexander VIII or Innocent XII. He returned to Lorraine in 1703 to join the Academy of Painting and Sculpture created by Duke Leopold. In 1704, he was director of the Monnaie de Lorraine in Nancy until his death. At that time, Duke Léopold commissioned him to make a "Médaillier des Ducs de Lorraine", a uniformly-crafted reminder of the metal history of King Louis XIV. He was assisted in this work by his children Claude-Augustin and Anne-Marie, whom he trained. Saint-Urbain's main concern was to produce truthful portraits. The excellence of his work earned him the term "opera divina" from the Italians. Based on the model of the Médaillier des Ducs de Lorraine, Saint-Urbain went on to create other series: les grands travaux de Lorraine or médailles particulières de Lorraine (IIe série), les Bourbons-Orléans (IIIe série), les Hommes illustres (IVe série), les Papes (Ve série, which remained unfinished). His work also includes numerous engravings of coins for the popes mentioned and the Duke of Lorraine, as well as various tokens and medals. The bibliography on Ferdinand de Saint-Urbain is extensive, and the artist has been cited in numerous articles (J. Jacquiot, S. de Turckheim-Pey, Medaglia 22, 1987 and H. Collin in 1997, who provides a bibliography), but since M. Beaupré's work in 1867, no catalogue raisonné seems to have been produced, and the latter remains useful for classification.