AFTER LOUIS-ERNEST BARRIAS (1841-1905)

The earliest version of this sculpture was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1893 by its lengthier title La Nature mystérieuse et voilée se découvre devant la Science (Mysterious and Veiled Nature Uncovers Herself before Science). It was suitably acquired by the faculty at l'École de Médecine in Bordeaux. This first version, executed in marble, was entirely nude apart from the veil which hung over her head and fell to her feet at her back. Barrias exhibited the model again in 1899 partly clothed, like the present model, and fashioned out of polychrome Algerian marble and onyx, a grey granite base, the scarab in malachite with a lapis lazuli ribbon. As this was Barrias’s most celebrated work, reduced-size versions were also produced in both marble and bronze, the latter varying in both size and patina. Bronzes of 24 cm. in height were size no. 5, available from Susse Frères as advertised in their 1910 catalogue (see Cadet, loc. cit.).