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(c) 2018 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Medal: Alsace
(c) 2018 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(c) 2018 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Medal: Alsace

medalist (Landes, 1873 - 1947, Paris)
Date1919
Place MadeFrance, Europe
MediumSilver
Dimensions7 x 5.1 cm (2 3/4 x 2 in.)
ClassificationsMedals and Medallions
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberM11n12.a
eMuseum ID722283
EmbARK ObjectID15143
TMS Source ID3748
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on view
Web Commentary
This bronze plaque was made by Georges-Henri Prud'homme in 1919 to celebrate the return of the regions of Alsace and Lorraine to France. The regions were annexed by the German Empire in 1871 and returned to France under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty. Images of a young girl from Alsace and the Strabourg Cathedral represent the regions.

Isabella attended a French boarding school and was fluent in the language. L. Col. Théodore Reinach, Chairman of the French Educational Mission in Paris gave this medal to Isabella as a token of gratitude for her support of the Mission.


BibliographyNotesMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accessed 2013. www.metmuseum.org
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, accessed 2013. collections.vam.ac.uk
Tanya Karpiak. "The medallic secrets of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum." The Medal (Autumn 2014), p. 20.
Kathleen King, "Isabella's Desk of Curiosities in the Macknight Room," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 31 May 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/isabellas-desk-curiosities-macknight-room
MarksNotesInscribed in relief (obverse, upper left): ALSACE
Signed and dated on sleeve: G. Prud'homme, 1919
Inscribed, tooled in gold (cover of box): To Mrs. Isabella S. Gardner from the French Educational Mission 1918.
ProvenanceNotesGift from L. Col. Théodore Reinach (1860-1928), scholar and Chairman of the French Educational Mission, Paris to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1918.