France Mourning the President of the Republic [reverse] 1894

Louis-Oscar Roty created this cast medal of France mourning the President of the Republic. It commemorates the assassination of President Sadi Carnot in 1894. In this piece, the figure of France is depicted as a woman in classical drapery, her head covered in mourning. She stands in solemn respect beside the body of the slain president, against the backdrop of Lyon, the site of his assassination. The inscription reads: "In the mourning of the fatherland." France, often personified as female, embodies the grief and vulnerability of a nation in crisis. This feminization of the state raises questions about the roles and expectations of women during this period. Were they simply symbols of national sorrow, or active participants in shaping the country’s future? Roty’s poignant medal invites us to reflect on the intertwined destinies of a leader and his nation, and the complex ways grief is expressed and memorialized in the public sphere.