Jean Léon Gérôme (1824–1904), French Painter
Medium
Bronze, brown patina, hollow cast
Dimensions
Diameter: 3 15/16 in. (10 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, 1893
Accession Number
93.10.56a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite bronze medal, created by the renowned French sculptor and engraver Jules-Clémentlain in 1885, honors Jean-Léon Gérôme (4–1904), one of the 19th century's leading academic painters. Measuring just under 4 inches in diameter, this hollow-cast piece with its rich brown patina exemplifies revival of medal art in France during the Belle Époque, where small-scale sculptures blended portraiture with symbolic imagery. Chaplain, a of the medium and recipient of numerous awards at the Paris Salons, captures Gérôme in profile, evoking classical coin traditions while nodding to modern reali...
About the Artist
Jules-Clément Chaplain · 1839–1909
Jules-Clément Chaplain (1839–1909) was a French engraver and medallist who became the most celebrated practitioner of the art medal in late nineteenth-century France. Born in Mortagne-au-Perche in Normandy, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Jouffroy and Oudiné and won the Prix de Rome for engraving in 1863, which enabled him to study in Italy for several years. Chaplain's work...