Obverse: Portrait of Thorvaldsen in profile with the inscription: A Thorvaldsen Danus Sculptor (To the Danish Sculptor Thorvaldsen).
Reverse: A Genio Lumen (Thorvaldsen’s relief Art and the Lightbringing Genius). Henri-François Brandt was a Swiss sculptor who spent the years 1813-1817 in Rome. The inscription beneath Thorvaldsen’s portrait “BRANDT NOVIC. F. 1817” means that Brandt from Novic(astris), i.e. Neuchâtel, made (f(ecit)) the medal in 1817. That year, Brandt was appointed principal medallist at the Royal Mint in Berlin and in June he left Rome, where the medal was made. In Rome, Brandt was a member of the circle around Thorvaldsen, who made a portrait bust of Brandt (Inv. No. A241, on show in Gallery 12 in the Museum). Thorvaldsen’s relief A Genio Lumen, which is reproduced on the medal, was first made in 1808, and it is presumably the piece that ensured his membership of the San Luca Academy in Rome. (This relief – Inv.No. A517 – can also be seen in Gallery 1 in the Museum). Brandt’s medal is one of the many made in honour of Thorvaldsen.
