Study for the Figure of the Republic (for the monument in memory of Charles Floquet, Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris)

The pupil of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Dalou first supported himself by producing ornamental sculptures for facades and interiors. After an eight-year stay in London following the Paris Commune of 1871, Dalou achieved considerable success with his smaller sculptures, mainly genre pieces of women presented in a variety of activities and poses. In these works, the artist's struggle for naturalism is marked by a recurring sentimentality. The Oberlin bronze is one of the figure studies for the artist's monument to Charles Floquet in Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, which was unveiled in 1899.