To James Madison from Moritz Fürst, 26 June 1816
From Moritz Furst
No. 319. Market street Philadelphia
26 June 1816.
May it please Your Excellency,
I had once the honnour of waiting upon Your Excellency in person, as an artist, who is an engraver in steel, of dyes for medaillons: and You did me the favour of promising to me, the fabrication of some of those, which were decreed by Goverment to the memory of those Heroes that did distinguish themselves in the last war.
Convinc’d that I was able to perform this work, to the entire satisfaction of those, who should employ me, I addressd myself here, to Mr. Harrison Naval agent,1 and to Mr Hopkinson,2 President of the accademy of the fine arts, but my application has been totally neglected by them. I therefore take the Liberty, to offer again my Services to Your Excellency, entreating You to honnour me with Your commands, for part of this work, which will be perform’d with all the accuracy and perfection that can be requir’d.
In my leisure hours I made some experiments, in Topographical Bank Bills, of which I enclose to Your Excellency a Small specimen, which was my first trial,3 and which I could bring now to a greater perfectio⟨n.⟩ These essays have cost me a great deal of monney. I am now without occupation, and should be happy to receive any Encourragement from Your Excellency, as You have Kindly promisd me when I presented myself to You, and which I Know You are allways pleas’d to bestow, on honnest Endeavours to excell in usefull arts.
Give me Leave to add the assurance of the profound Respect with which I have the Honnour to subscribe May it please Your Excellency Your Most obediant humble Servant
Moritz Furst4
RC and enclosure (NN). RC docketed by JM.
1. George Harrison was naval agent for the United States at Philadelphia.
2. Joseph Hopkinson (1770–1842) was a Philadelphia lawyer and a founding director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1805. He served as a Federalist representative for Philadelphia in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses.
3. The enclosure was probably the small, oblong ornamental engraving attached to the foot of the second page of the letter.
4. Moritz Fürst (1782–1840) was born in Bratislava and settled in Philadelphia in 1808. He was to engrave several medallions for the heroes of the War of 1812, peace medallions to commemorate treaties made with Indian nations, and later, engravings of presidents of the United States, including John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson (Chris Neuzil, “A Reckoning of Moritz Fürst’s American Medals,” in The Medal in America […], ed. Alan M. Stahl [2 vols.; New York, 1988–99], 2:17–119).