a bronze nude by Dalou

This bronze was cast after a terracotta modello now in the Petit Palais, Paris.  The terracotta is a study for a figure on the left side of Dalou's monument to  Léon Gambetta (1838-1882).  Gambetta was the father of the third Republic who organized the French resistance against the Germans in 1870 and 1871.  The monument was commissioned by the nation through private donations.  It replaced the statue of Napoleon II in the Allés de Tournay.  The monument, however, was not erected until after Dalou's death.