Jules Clément Chaplain (French, 1839–1909)
Jules-Élie Delaunay
Silvered bronze, 3 15/16 in. diam.
2002.41

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 painter Delaunay.
Inscribed: J. ELIE DELAUNAY PEINTRE.
Signed: J.C. CHAPLAIN.

Reverse: A male personification of painting kneeling in a rocky landscape in order to drink water from a stream. Above him hovers Apollo, god of the arts, playing his lyre.