medal, Academy Medal, medals, prize, Britain, W. WYON F. /...
medal, Academy Medal, medals, prize, Britain, W. WYON F. / 1822
Artist: Wyon, William, die-engraver; Date(s): inferred 1830; Classification(s): medal, Academy Medal, medals, prize, Britain, W. WYON F. / 1822; Acquisition: given by Watson, Philip Charles, 2005-01-31 [CM.89-2005]
Description: The Royal Academy of Music began as a London boarding school specialising in musical tuition and was founded in 1822. In 1830 it was awarded a charter by King George IV and became the Royal Academy of Music as it now exists. From the Academy's inception medals were awarded to students for good conduct, and the design of this medal was entrusted to William Wyon of the Royal Academy. Its depiction of Apollo is modelled on the Apollo Belvedere statue at Rome. The Academy stopped awarding the medals in the 1940s, however, as they had become too expensive to produce. This piece is a bronze specimen from the workshop of the designer, which was passed on to become part of the collection of his descendant Allan Gairdner Wyon, as part of which it has come to the Museum. As it bears the Academy's royal title it must, despite the signed date, be an update of the original medal from 1830 or shortly thereafter.
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