Séverine, the pen name for Caroline Rémy (1855-1926), was a journalist, novelist and speaker who frequently advocated Socialist and other progressive political causes of the day. Rodin made several drawings of her on the occasion of the publication in 1893 of her first novel, Pages Rouges, and soon after created this small mask. Séverine was among those who gave orations at the sculptor's funeral on November 24, 1917.