kinderportret 1895

This small medal portraying a child was made by Louis Eugêne Mouchon in France, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Medals have a long history, from ancient coins to military honors, but in 19th-century France, they took on a new role as a form of portraiture, capturing likenesses of individuals in a portable and enduring medium. The image here creates meaning through its intimate scale and careful rendering of the child's features, reflecting both the artistic conventions of the time and perhaps the social values placed on childhood and family. The production of such medals would have been shaped by the economic and artistic institutions of the time, including the market for portraiture and the network of artists, patrons, and foundries involved in their creation. The medal can be seen as a comment on the social structures of its time, reflecting the values and priorities of the bourgeoisie. Understanding art like this requires looking into the social and institutional contexts in which it was made, using resources like archives, period publications, and studies of patronage and collecting.