Model for clock case

Renoir took up sculpture late in his life, working with the help of another artist and exploring a wide range of themes and styles. This plaster model for a clock case presents an allegory celebrating youth and suggesting the passage of time. Archetypal nude figures of a woman and a man look up at a triumphant figure of a child who sits upon the globe and holds a flaming torch. The model recalls decorative arts of the 18th century, when similar allegorical clock cases were modeled in clay for final production in bronze.