Summers, Charles (1827-78; English/Australian)
Seal of the Victorian Exhibition 1862
Copper, 10 cm diameter
Acquired by 1865
Museums Victoria, NU 18367 (transferred from the NGV, March 1976)
The work reproduced here is described by Museums Victoria as a pressing of the official seal for the 1862 International Exhibition, London, showing the Colony of Victoria as a Greek Muse. The inscriptions read INTER.EXHIB.VICT.1862.LAETA (and, in tiny letters, SUMMERS DES ARNOLDI SC).
Before being sent to London, the exhibits were shown in Melbourne (Oct-Nov.1861), and Summers’ seal was awarded a First Class Certificate. For an image of the Victorian section of the London exhibition (1 May-15 Nov.1862), see Nash Australian section…, London 1862 1863 {1881} SLV [WT].
Refs.
NGV 1865, Vol.II (Coins, medals etc.), p.47: “Victorian Exhibition, Great Seal of, by Charles Summers” (under “Electrotypes, Bronzes etc.”)
For details and reproduction of the work shown here, see Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/75791 (photographer unknown), and Tout-Smith, D. (2003) Charles Summers, Medal Maker (1827-1878) in Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/1893 (both accessed 27 October 2020). Jennie Maggs advises the following exhibition details: 1861 Victorian exhibition cat. pp.276 and 297; 1862 London exhibition cat. p.74 (email advice, 26 Oct.2020).
Information on Arnoldi appears to be scarce. For two further medals by him, produced in Sydney for the Port Phillip Farmers Society, 1858/59, in the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Sydney, see https://collection.maas.museum/object/422564 (also accessed 27 Oct.2020)
For the 1861-2 exhibition, see also https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/interexhib/1861to62 (accessed 27 Oct.2020), with further information on catalogues etc.