Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

The Académie originated in 1663 as a council of four humanists, "scholars who were the most versed in the knowledge of history and antiquity": Jean Chapelain, François Charpentier, Jacques Cassagne, Amable de Bourzeys, and Charles Perrault.

However, under Colbert's management, the Académie performed many additional roles, such as determining the art that would decorate the Palace of Versailles.

It met twice a week at the Louvre, its members began to receive significant pensions, and was made an official state institution on the king's decree.

[4] In January 1716 it was permanently renamed to the Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres with the broader goal of elevating the prestige of the French monarchy using physical symbols uncovered or recovered through the methods of classical erudition.

Each page of the catalogue featured engraved images of the obverse and reverse of a single medal, followed by a lengthy description of the event upon which it was based.