Overlijden van Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune, maarschalk van Frankrijk 1815

This bronze medal commemorating the death of Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune, a Marshal of France, was made by François Augustin Caunois, sometime in the first half of the 19th century. The medal’s creation involved skilled hands in design, engraving and striking, a labour-intensive process that yielded precise detail. Note the sharp relief of Brune’s profile, and the crisp lettering, framed by a wreath, which would have required careful tooling of dies. The choice of bronze as a material is significant too, valued for its durability, and capacity to capture fine detail, endowing the medal with a sense of permanence. Although small in scale, medals like these played an important role in shaping public memory and political narratives, circulating images and ideas in durable form. They served to memorialize individuals and events, and also demonstrate a mastery of materials and making, elevating the status of both subject and maker. This medal stands as a potent reminder of the intersection of art, craft, and social context.