Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825, Painter [obverse] 1819

This is a bronze medal of Jacques-Louis David, the painter, created by Auguste François Michaut. The monochrome medium emphasizes form and line. The relief, with its three-dimensionality, invites a tactile experience, challenging the conventions of portraiture by bringing sculpture into painting. Note how the profile bust is cleanly delineated. This is set against a flat plane and inscribed lettering running in a perfect circle. These structural elements create a harmonious balance, indicative of neoclassicism's formal aesthetics. The structural and semiotic readings of this medal reveal how it embodies a historical and philosophical discourse. The profile view is itself a signifier, evoking classical antiquity. The name and profession circumscribe the perimeter, framing David not merely as an individual but as a cultural sign. The medal serves as a coded artifact, one which embodies David's cultural status and invites ongoing interpretation.