"Jutland" By Pierre Roche (WWI Battle)

In the 1920s, an accomplished French sculptor and artist named Pierre Roche (real name Pierre Henry Ferdinand Massignon) created a series of medals on the Great War, many very large. Posthumously in 1922, a book was published titled "Une histoire metallique de la guerre 1914-1918" (A metallic history of the war 1914-1918) which included photographs of each medal he made. It took Pierre Roche several years to create the series of 80 medals, all commemorating specific battles (such as Jutland, Verdun, Somme, and others) or more abstract feelings of loss or destiny.

The first collection was commissioned by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (California, USA), for inclusion in their Legion of Honor building.

This one-sided medal, approximately 90 mm in diameter, is #44 in the series and commemorates the naval battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of all time, fought between the British and German fleets. The battle is named by the British after the area of the Denmark closest to the battle; the Germans named it the battle of Skaggerak, which is the "sea" in that area.

I know of only three other copies of this medal, all in museums in France or in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

Any information on other medals of this series or this specific medal would be appreciated.



John