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Inscription

center: UNDER / THE / REGENCY; around outer circumference: RESPECTFULLY TO PERPETUATE THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO IN MDCCCXI SUBSCRIBED TO PURCHASE THE PICTURE OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE FOR THE GALLERY OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTION; around circumference, in five concentric circles: H.R.H.P.REGENT E.OF AYLESFORD J.J.ANGERSTIEN D.OF BRIDGEWATER D.OF DEVONSHIRE C.J.CHOLMONDELEY E.OF ASHBURNHAM E.OF HARDWICKE / M.OF STAFFORD D.OF BEDFORD E.OF CARLISLE SIR W.W. WYNN E.OF EGREMONT SIR G.BEAUMONT SIR T.BERNARD CLAUDE SCOTT / B.OF DDURHAM LADY LUCAS L.BROWNLOW C.DUNCOMBE E OF DARNLEY J.HINCKLEY SIR T.BARING L.KINNIARD / R.P.KNIGHT L.G.L.GOWER E..SPENCER W.MORLAND L.DUNDAS SIR A.HIME R.H.C.LONG REV.W.LONG / M.CAMDEN THO.HOPE H.P.HOPE R.H.DAVIS J.NASH W.SMITH T.COUTTS D.P.WATTS

Provenance

Dr. J.M. Toner [1825-1896], Washington;[1] gift 1882 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] Benjamin West was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia to produce a work for the first hospital in the United States, and in 1811 he completed Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple. Exhibited first in England, where West lived and worked, the painting proved so popular that the artist was pressured into selling it for what at the time was the greatest amount paid for a modern work. West was so flattered by the interest in the painting that he had this medal struck for each of the subscribers that supported the purchase, and he painted a second version of the painting that arrived in Philadelphia in 1817.

Dr. Toner was a prominent physician, medical historian, and collector of the writings of George Washington. In the same year he donated this medal to the Corcoran, Dr. Toner donated to the Library of Congress more than 28,000 books, 12,000 pamphlets and periodicals, and his own large collection of manuscripts that he continued to augment until his death.

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