A patinated bronze bust of a young girl circa 1900

An evocative patinated bronze bust of a young girl, modelled in the Symbolist and Art Nouveau taste, her head gently inclined and her eyes lowered in a contemplative expression.

The sitter is portrayed with softly modelled youthful features and loosely arranged hair falling around the forehead and sides of the face. The deliberately irregular termination of the shoulders and bust gives the sculpture an informal, almost impressionistic quality, contrasting with the smooth and sensitive modelling of the face.

The introspective pose and idealised treatment are characteristic of the fin-de-siècle Symbolist aesthetic, in which mood, reverie and psychological expression took precedence over formal portraiture. The flowing treatment of the hair and softened naturalism also reflect the influence of contemporary Art Nouveau sculpture.

Cast in bronze and retaining an attractive green-brown patina, the bust is raised on a cylindrical rouge marble socle above a moulded square plinth.

A particularly appealing and atmospheric example of turn-of-the-century sculpture, combining youthful naturalism with the dreamlike, introspective character associated with the Symbolist movement.

Continental, circa 1900.

Patinated bronze on a rouge marble socle.

H 38  x  W 20  x  D 15cm