American Art Collaborative

Judge John Barton Payne (1855-1935) served in Woodrow Wilson’s government during World War I, was secretary of the Interior from 1920 to 1921, and served from 1921 to 1935 as president of the American Red Cross. His gifts of paintings and funds to the Commonwealth of Virginia led to the establishment of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 1932. The Payne medal, designed by Paul Manship, accompanies a purchase award that has been given to such notable American artists as Stuart Davis. On the reverse, the Roman god Virtus stands over a fallen despot. The Latin motto, which reads “Thus Ever To Tyrants,” appears on Virginia’s great seal