Medal of Captain James Lawrence
1800–1830
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
Diam. 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm)
Classification
Medal
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
Accession Number
83.2.394
Tags
About this artwork
This bronze medal by Moritz Fürst honors Captain James Lawrence, whose dying command 'Don't give up the ship!' became one of the most famous rallying cries in American naval history. Created between 1800 and 1830 as part of the Congressional series commemorating War of 1812 naval heroes, the medal immortalizes Lawrence's final battle as commander of the USS Chesapeake against HMS Shannon on June 1, 1813. Though Lawrence's ship was captured and he died from his wounds, his courage and determinati...
About the Artist
Moritz Fürst · 1782–1882
Moritz Fürst was a Hungarian-born engraver and medalist who became one of the most accomplished practitioners of his craft in the early United States. Born in Hungary in 1782, he acquired his technical training in European ateliers before emigrating to America, where he arrived in the early years of the nineteenth century and ultimately settled in Philadelphia — then the center of the young nation...