Le Printemps

Jules Desbois collaborated on occasion with Auguste Rodin, who praised Desbois by saying that he practiced sculpture with a fervor that bordered on the religious. This bust of a young girl is beautifully crafted in cast wax over plaster. It is not a working model but a finished work of art in its own right, as indicated by the signature. It suggests the working process, especially in the metal rod that projects from the hair of the girl, both an elegant evocation of a hair ornament and a practical support for the plaster core.