Artwork Details
- Title
- Bertner Foundation Award Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Cancer Research
- Artist
- Date
- n.d.
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 3 in. (7.7 cm) diam.
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Joseph Renier
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- bronze
- Subjects
- Emblem — caduceus
- Allegory — arts and sciences — medicine
- Figure — fragment — hand
- Animal — reptile — snake
- Object Number
- 1967.93.60
Artwork Description
The Bertner Foundation Award Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Cancer Research honors Dr. Ernest William Bertner, who was chief of staff at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, and in 1945 became the first president of the Texas Medical Center. In Joseph Renier’s design the Lone Star of Texas underlies a stylized modern interpretation of the caduceus, the ancient symbol that identifies Asclepius, Greek god of healing. This composition echoes the emblem of Asclepius’s daughter, Hygeia, the goddess of health and cleanliness who wore a snake draped about her body and fed the creature from a bowl.