Claude-Joseph Ferry (1756–1845), French savant and statesman
Medium
Proof in bronze - single
Dimensions
Diameter: 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm)
Classification
Medals and Plaquettes
Culture
French
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Fumière et Cie., 1920
Accession Number
20.171
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite bronze proof medal, created by the renowned French sculptor Pierre Jean David d'Angers in 1839, honors Claude-Joseph Ferry (6–1845), a distinguished savant and statesman whose life spanned the turbulent eras of the French Revolution, Empire, and Restoration. Measuring just 6 3/4 inches in diameter, this single proof—a rare trial casting before final production—captures Ferry's profile in a classical, introspective pose, evoking intellectual gravitas of Enlightenment thinkers. David d'Angers, a master of Romantic sculpture with neoclassical roots, was celebrated for his prolific...
About the Artist
Pierre Jean David d'Angers · 1788–1856
Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, born on March 12, 1788, in Angers, France, to a wood carver and ornamental sculptor father who had fought in the Republican army, began his artistic training locally under Marchand and Jean-Jacques Delusse at the École centrale d'Angers from 1806 to 1807. In 1808, he arrived in Paris with scant funds and entered the studio of Philippe-Laurent Roland, later working under...