Jules Clément Chaplain (French, 1839-1909) Jules-Élie Delaunay
Silvered bronze, 3 15/16 in. diameter  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.  Recto: Portrait in profile of the painter
Delaunay (1828–1891). Inscribed: j. elie delaunay peintre.
Signed: j. c. chaplain.  Verso: A male personification of
painting, with a palette and brushes beside him, kneels in a
rocky landscape in order to drink water from a stream. Above him
hovers Apollo, god of the arts, playing his lyre.