Madame Jeanne-Mathilde Claude
Medium
Electroformed copper
Dimensions
Diameter: 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm)
Classification
Medals and Plaquettes
Culture
French, Paris
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of David and Constance Yates, in memory of Ruth Blumka and Victoria Nasatir Goldberg, 1998
Accession Number
1998.324.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant electroformed copper medal, created by Jules-Clément Chaplain in 1887, captures Madame Jeanne-Mathilde Claude in profile, a format long favored in European portraiture. Chaplain, a leading French medallist of the late nineteenth century, worked in the academic tradition, blending classical restraint with subtle naturalism. The circular format and crisp relief recall ancient coinage while reflecting the refined taste of the Third Republic’s cultural elite. Electroforming, an electrochemical process that deposits copper onto a mold, allowed Chaplain to achieve remarkable sharpness ...
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...