A FRENCH GILT-BRONZE, LAPIS LAZULI AND WHITE MARBLE FIGURE, ENTITLED 'LA NATURE SE DEVOILANT DEVANT LA SCIENCE' (NATURE REVEALING HERSELF BEFORE SCIENCE)

This exquisite allegorical figure was first exhibited at the 1893 Paris Salon and acquired by the École de Médecine in Bordeaux. Barrias re-worked the model slightly, but maintained the depiction of Nature as a voluptuous woman slowly unfastening her robe. Barrias often had the figure enriched with a variety of materials and patinas, as in the present example, adding to the sense of opulence typical of the fin-de-siècle.