Baigneuse (Bather)

One of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century, Maillol focused on the representation of the female nude throughout his long career, first in paintings and tapestries, and after 1899, in sculpture. This figure is among the artist’s earliest sculptural studies, although the softly rounded, serene, classical style of his mature work is already evident. Valsuani, one of two foundries with which Maillol liked to work, cast this bronze from Maillol’s terracotta model. It was the artist’s custom to have only six bronzes made of a model, after which the mold was destroyed.