Inauguration Medal of Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States, 1801

This is Johann Mathias Reich’s Inauguration Medal of Thomas Jefferson, made in 1801. It portrays Jefferson in profile on a bronze disc. The medal speaks to the politics of imagery in the early American republic. Medals like this served as propaganda tools, forging a link between the leader and the ideals of the nation. They are part of the history of how the United States has sought to define itself, particularly in the wake of the American Revolution. Reich was working within a political context where likeness and image were seen as critical to constructing the authority of the president. The imagery of the medal draws on conventions of ancient Roman portraiture, associating Jefferson with the virtues of the Roman Republic. To truly understand this object, we need to research the history of presidential inaugurations, the role of medals in political life, and the reception of Jefferson's image at the time. Art becomes meaningful only within a specific social and institutional context.