A ROYAL PORTRAIT IN MINIATURE

Sat 2 Nov, 11am–12pm

At the Museum and Online

An exclusive talk for Members of the Ashmolean

This event is taking place in-person at the Headley Lecture Theatre, and online via Zoom.

Coffee and pastries will be served in the lecture theatre from 10:30am.

With Martin Jennings, sculptor of the King’s portrait on the new national coinage.

Martin Jennings's original bas relief portrait of the King, modelled for the obverse of the new definitive coinage, is one of the highlights of our new major exhibition Money Talks: Art Society & Power.

During his talk, Martin will explain and illustrate his process of designing and modelling the King’s head, (one of the smallest forms of public sculpture), and its accompanying inscriptions. He will explore this in the context of the history of recent British coinage and compare and contrast it with the approaches required for large public figurative sculpture for which he is well known.

King Charles III coinage model, by Martin Jennings, 2023, plastiline on wood, Collection of the artist

Martin has been making public sculptures of British historical, literary, political and industrial figures for many years. His representations of great writers and poets are particularly well known: John Betjeman at St Pancras Station, Philip Larkin in Hull, Charles Dickens in Portsmouth and George Orwell outside BBC Broadcasting House.

Celebrated figures from the medical profession have also featured prominently including John Radcliffe in Oxford and Mary Seacole outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London. His sculptures are cast in bronze with the accompanying text carved in stone or slate around them.

Martin studied calligraphy, letter cutting and stone carving following an MA in English Language and Literature and the University of Oxford. Over the years he has fulfilled numerous sculpture commissions as well as carving memorials and inscriptions for churches and a range of public buildings. His design for the King’s head was commissioned by the Royal Mint.