Henri-Marie-Gaston de Bonnechose (1800–1833), Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen
Medium
Silver
Dimensions
Diameter: 2 13/16 in. (7.1 cm)
Classification
Medals and Plaquettes
Culture
French
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of David and Constance Yates, in memory of Victoria Blumka Nasatir Goldberg, 1994
Accession Number
1994.358
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silver medal, struck in 1893 by French Daniel Jean-Baptiste Dupuis honors Henri-Marie-Gaston de Bonnechose (0–1833), the Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen. just 2 13/16 inches in diameter, it captures the cleric's dignified profile alongside his coat of arms, a classic format for commemorative plaquettes that blend portraiture with heraldry. Created six decades after de Bonnechose's death it reflects a Victorian-era revival of interest in ecclesiastical figures who shaped 19th-century French Catholicism. De Bonnechose rose swiftly in the Church hierarchy, becoming Archbishop of Roue...