The Head of Mrs. Russell

Auguste Rodin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This plaster cast of a study of Mariana Russell’s head is one of several works that Rodin donated to The Met in 1912. It resembles The Met's 1888 portrait in bronze (1986.37.3), and Rodin probably made it in preparation for one of the classicizing sculptures for which she modeled. The head’s straight alignment accentuates the angular features that the artist admired in his sitter, and its matte surface evokes a marble carving.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art