Medallion
Flat round or oval relief bigger than a medal made in any material including wood, marble, terracotta and bronze. Medallions are sometimes incorporated into larger sculptures such as tomb monuments. Portrait images typically decorate the front, whereas the back, if ornamented, usually displays an emblem, symbolic motif, narrative scene, and/or inscription that refers to the life or personality of the person on the front.
Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt
by Jean Cavalier
circa 1690
NPG 1740
Sir Christopher Wren
by David Le Marchand
circa 1720
NPG 4500
Thomas Bentley
after Joachim Smith
based on a work of circa 1773
NPG 1949
Benjamin Franklin
by Jean Baptiste Nini
1777
NPG 722
Edmund Burke
by Thomas R. Poole
1791
NPG 1607
Matthew Boulton
by Sarah Brown
1807
NPG 1451
William Thomas Brande
attributed to Jean Baptiste Troye
circa 1820
NPG 4819
Amelia Opie
by Pierre-Jean David D'Angers, cast by Louis Richard
1829
NPG 1081
James Meadows Rendel
by Richard Cockle Lucas
1852
NPG 5902
Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse
by Susan D. Durant
1867
NPG 2023a(7)
H.G. Wells
by Theodore Spicer-Simson
circa 1922
NPG 2055
Derek Jarman
by Ian Rank-Broadley
1991
NPG 6147