WIELANDY (circa 1725- after 1800) Allegory of French comedian and academician Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy (St Flour, 1727 - Paris, 1775). Very fine miniature bas-relief carved in wax on slate Signed and dated on reverse: "fait en 1800 par J.L [?] Wielandy âgé de 75 ans" (made in 1800 by J.L [?] Wielandy aged 75). Rect. 7.5 x 5.8 cm Under glass, wood frame rect. 10.8 x 8.6 cm (B.E. except for minor stains and crazing) This Wielandy was probably a member of the Augsburg dynasty of medal engravers active in London and Switzerland, including Charles Wielandy (London, 1748- Geneva, 1837), who studied in France. Here, he uses Louis-Simon Lempereur's 1767 engraving after Nicolas-René Jollain, with Buirette de Belloy's medallion in the center, presented by a winged genie and crowned with laurels by a personification of the town of Calais, of which Buirette de Belloy was an honorary citizen. Comedian, "national poet" and playwright, Buirette de Belloy made a career in Russia to escape the lawyer studies his tutor had in store for him. On his return to France, after a number of failures, he triumphed with a patriotic tragedy, Le Siège de Calais (1765), which boosted French morale after the Seven Years' War; he was admitted to the Académie française in 1771, as well as to the Académie de Rouen. His selected works were published in 1811.