For the French Alpine Club
19th century
Medium
Bronze, struck, silvered
Dimensions
2 5/16 × 1 3/4 in. (59 × 44 mm)
Classification
Medals and Plaquettes
Culture
French
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 1893
Accession Number
93.10.11a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in the 19th century by renowned French engraver Louis-Oscar Roty, *For the French Alpine Club is a finely crafted silvered bronze medal, struck with precision to capture intricate details. Measuring just 2 5/16 × 1 3/4 inches (59 × 44 mm), this petite plaquette exemplifies the Renaissance-inspired revival of medal art in France, where small-scale sculptures served as wearable or displayable tokens of prestige and achievement. The medal commemorates the French Alpine Club, founded in 1874 amid a surge of Romantic fascination with mountaineering and the sublime beauty of the Alps. Roty'...
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...