George Canning (1770–1827), British conservative statesman
Medium
Bronze, cast - single
Dimensions
Diameter: 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
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, 1898
Accession Number
98.7.38
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite bronze medal, cast in 1827 by the renowned French Romantic sculptor Pierre Jean David dAngers, immortalizes George Canning (1770–1827), Britain's influential conservative statesman and short-lived Prime Minister. Measuring just 5¼ inches in diameter, it captures Canning's profile in a style, evoking the grandeur of ancient Roman coins while honoring a modern political titan. David d'Angers, a master of portrait medallions, produced of such works, blending sharp realism with idealized heroism to commemorate Europe's luminaries. Created in the very year of Canning's death, the me...
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...