Leon Bonnat

This bronze plaquette, created by Victor Peter, bears witness to the cultural veneration of the artist, Léon Bonnat, in December 1913. Note the profile portrait, a motif that stretches back to antiquity, seen in Roman coins and Renaissance medals, it signified power and remembrance. Here, it's rendered with a stark realism, almost like a death mask. This harks back to the ancient Roman practice of creating portraits to immortalize individuals, embedding a collective desire to defy mortality. The inscription around the portrait, associating Bonnat with the prestigious École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, is not merely informative. Like the laurel wreaths of emperors, this text is a symbolic claim to immortality. The plaquette becomes a vessel of cultural memory, an emotionally charged object ensuring that Bonnat's legacy endures beyond his lifetime. The motif resurfaces, evolving in each context, yet always carrying that primal urge to preserve and remember.