Sir Edmund Halley (1656–1742) 1744

Curator: This bronze medal presents a profile portrait of Sir Edmund Halley, crafted by Jacques-Antoine Dassier in 1744. Editor: It's quite striking, isn't it? The clean lines of the profile against the bronze material give it a feeling of both power and precision, almost as though we could roll this on the table! It seems to speak to Halley’s status. Curator: Exactly. The medal itself, its materiality, functions as a marker of status and commemorates Halley's accomplishments. Think about bronze as a medium: it signifies durability and importance. The labor that went into creating the mold, casting the medal—it speaks volumes about how society valued this figure. And these medals often circulated as commemorative objects, shaping public memory. Editor: That's interesting—that the medal, the object itself, becomes part of his legacy. So, beyond just honoring the individual, it becomes a distributed form of propaganda for his achievements, influencing the perception of science within society? Was it intended to be distributed or just created for archival purposes? Curator: Evidence indicates wide circulation. Medals such as this became symbolic goods reflecting a society undergoing significant intellectual and political transformation. The production and distribution of such images functioned to shape the popular understanding of individuals, ideas, and the value systems connected to figures like Halley, the famous astronomer and mathematician. Editor: Looking closer, the baroque details in his wig and clothing, rendered meticulously in the bronze, show me something too. The artistry elevates Halley from just a scientist into something more, maybe a celebrity figure for the age of reason, which reflects how new modes of visual art democratized icons like him. The decision to depict him in profile like ancient roman emperors adds even another layer of public-facing grandeur and accessibility, too! Curator: I concur that the adoption of the profile view invokes that deliberate historical context that certainly elevates his stature, playing on historical tropes. Considering the medal's function, not solely as an artistic object but also as a medium for constructing a public image, reveals its broader social role. Editor: Fascinating. I see so much more in it now, realizing how this modest bronze tells so much about the political meaning of celebrity and science back then! Curator: Agreed, seeing it less as static portraiture and more of a mobilized object embedded in broader networks of production, exchange, and valuation reveals so much about the history.