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Washington, DC 20565

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Louis-Ernest Barrias

French, 1841 - 1905

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A woman wrapped in silver and gold robes lifts fabric to reveal her head and face in this freestanding cast bronze sculpture. The woman’s skin and a garment held in place with a belt are polished gold. The fabric that drapes over her head and wraps around her garment is silver, and her hair is dark brown. In this photograph, her body faces us, and she tips her head to look down and slightly to our left. She has a long nose, high cheekbones, a pointed chin, and her lips are closed. The belt has an oval green stone at the front, and it wraps tightly around her ribcage just under her bare breasts. The gold garment puddles around her bare feet, and a bit spills off the front edge of the brown, bronze square platform, which sits on a slightly wider marble base swirled with white and russet brown. — Louis-Ernest Barrias, Nature Unveiling Herself before Science, model 1895/1899, cast c. 1900, bronze with silvering and malachite, Gift of Frank Anderson Trapp, 2004.166.1

Nature Unveiling Herself before Science

Louis-Ernest Barrias · model 1895/1899, cast c. 1900 · bronze with silvering and malachite · 2004.166.1