Artwork Details
- Title
- George D. Widener Memorial Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
- Artist
- Date
- 1916
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 1⁄8 x 2 in. (0.3 x 5.2 cm) diam.
- Credit Line
- Gift of the heirs of Albert Laessle: Mrs. Albertine de Bempt Laessle, Mr. Albert M. Laessle and Mr. Paul Laessle
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- bronze
- Keywords
- Portrait male — Widener, George D. — bust
- Object Number
- 1971.118.1
Artwork Description
George D. Widener was from a prominent Philadelphia family of financiers and horse breeders. He died on the Titanic with his youngest son in 1912, and this medal was created in his memory. For generations the Wideners have supported art education at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where the Widener Memorial Medal is awarded annually to sculptors. On the reverse of Albert Laessle's medal a nude figure kneels beside a sphinx and holds a mallet and chisel, associating the prizewinner's work with thousands of years of sculpture.