Death and Funeral of President Carnot, 1894
1894
Medium
Silver, struck
Dimensions
3 1/8 x 2 1/4 in. (79 x 57 mm.)
Classification
Medals and Plaquettes
Culture
French
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1910
Accession Number
10.6.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This silver medal by Louis-Oscar Roty commemorates the 1894 assassination and state funeral of French President Marie François Sadi Carnot. Struck in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the plaquette captures a moment of national mourning for a leader killed by an anarchist during a public appearance in Lyon. As a work in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it reflects the French tradition of using small-scale medals to mark pivotal political events and preserve collective memory. Roty, one of the most celebrated French medallists of th...
About the Artist
Louis-Oscar Roty · 1846–1911
Louis-Oscar Roty, commonly known as Oscar Roty (1846–1911), was born on June 11 in Paris's Belleville neighborhood, the son of a modest schoolmaster. He began his artistic training under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the Petite École (later the École des Arts Décoratifs), honing his drawing skills, before entering the École des Beaux-Arts in 1864. There, he studied sculpture and medal engraving u...