Overlijden van Koningin Marie-Henriette van België 1902 1902

This bronze coin, made by J. Jourdain, commemorates the death of Queen Marie-Henriette of Belgium in 1902. What a task, to compress so much feeling, and so much life into such a tiny, weighty form. On one side, the Queen’s profile is raised in solemn relief; on the other, a draped figure mourns, leaning against what looks like a tomb. I can imagine the artist, hunched over, painstakingly carving into the die, thinking about mortality, loss, and public duty. See how the draped figure seems both present and absent, solid yet spectral? The coin's circular shape adds to the feeling of completion, the end of a cycle. You can feel Jourdain’s hand in this work; the medium carries a sense of touch. What do we make of these circular forms? Perhaps they ask us to meditate on time itself, to find the place where art and life meet.