Falz, Raymond

, a celebrated medallist, was the son of a jeweller, and born at Stockholm in 1658. His father dying in his infancy, he was sent to Stettin to the care of his maternal uncle, and afterwards being brought back to Stockholm, employed himself in goldsmith’s work, painting, and modelling in wax. In 1680 he went to Copenhagen, and thence to Lubeck, Hamburgh, and many other places, for the sake of improvement in his art. At Augsburgh he learned to work on steel. In 1683, after studying the French language, he went to Paris, and was employed by Cheron the French king’s medallist, and having acquired a very high reputation for his workmanship, he began business on his own account, and executed a great number of excellent medals illustrative of the history of Louis XIV. who was so well pleased with his performances as to settle a pension of 1200 livres upon him, besides paying him liberal prices for his works. In 1686 he took a trip to the Netherlands, and thence into England. After returning to the continent, he re-visited his native country, Sweden, where the king gave him an handsome pension; and in 1688, Frederic, elector of Brandenburgh, invited Falz to his court, and appointed him his medallist. After increasing his fame in Sweden, at Berlin, and at Hanover, he died at Berlin May 26, 1703. ²