Jules Clément Chaplain (French, 1839–1909)
Portrait of Eugène Guillaume, 1886
Silvered bronze, 3 15/16 in. diam.
2002.42

Chaplain won the Prix de Rome for medal-engraving in 1863, and went on to have a highly successful career, including election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1881 and an appointment as Art Director of the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory in 1896. In 1877 Chaplain became the official medallist of the French government, creating a series of presidential portrait medals. His many animated and realistic medallions of intellectuals and artists, however, constitute his greatest achievement.

Obverse: Portrait in profile of the sculptor Eugène Guillaume (1822–1905).
Inscribed: EUGENE GUILLAUME STATUAIRE MEMBRE DE L’INSTITUT / ETATIS SVAE LXIV.
Signed: J. C. CHAPLAIN 1886.

Reverse: A female personification of sculpture, holding a hammer and chisel, is seated before a large sculpture. Her left elbow rests on a scroll with the inscription: COLLEGE DE FRANCE / COURS D’ESTHETIQUE / DISCOURS.