DASSIER, Jean: England, 1731, Bronze, 41 mm
Obv: Bust of Anne    ANNA D.G. M. BR. FR. ET HIB. REGINA.
Rev: A sarcophagus, upon which an obelisk has been erected. At left, Fame blowing her trumpet, draws open a curtain to reveal a bust of Prince George. At right a putto points to the portrait. On the lid of the sarcophagus is Victory seated on the barrel of a cannon amidst a pile of captured standards, cannons and cannon balls. She is depicted in the act of recording the deeds of the reign upon a shield.
Exergue:  NATA. 6. FEBR. 1665. CORONAT. 23. APR. 1702. MORT. 1. AVG. 1714.
Signed: I.D.
Ref: M.I. ii, 417/292; Eimer 72/462; Eisler I, 264/32; Thompson 33/31

Anne (1665-1727) Queen of Great Britain and Ireland(1702-1714), was the second daughter of James, Duke of York (King James II, 1685-1688), and Anne Hyde. Although her father was a Roman Catholic, she was reared a Protestant at the insistence of her uncle, King Charles II. In 1683 Anne was married to Prince George of Denmark. Succeeding William III, Anne was the last Stuart sovereign and, after the Act of Union (1707), the first monarch of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland. As the last Stuart monarch, she wished to rule independently, but her intellectual limitations and chronic ill health caused her to rely heavily on her ministers, who directed England’s efforts against France and Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). This war dominated her reign and is often called Queen Anne’s War. Anne was the last English monarch to exercise the royal veto over legislation, but the rise of parliamentary government was inexorable. The Jacobite cause was crushed when Anne was succeeded by George I. Her reign is notable for the vibrancy that party conflicts between Whigs and Tories instilled in contemporary arts and culture (from O’Brien and Thompson)