George Inness Gold Medal

Jonathan Scott Hartley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After training in London, Berlin, and Paris, Hartley ascended from the ranks of marble cutter to become a distinguished sculptor of portraits. He received particular notice for his portrait bust of his father-in-law, the esteemed American artist George Inness. In 1900, Hartley modeled the "George Inness Gold Medal," an award that honored excellence in landscape painting at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition from 1901 to 1918. The obverse features a portrait of Inness; the reverse bears an inscription designating the award to its recipient. In 1905, the year this medal was distributed, the winner was Edward Gay, whose landscape "Broad Acres" (87.1.8) is in the Metropolitan’s collection.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art