Seated Young Girl, 1898

The Russian sculptor Paul Troubetzkoy is known mainly for his portraits of the 'beau monde’ in the first half of the 20th century. His works include sculptures of kings, tsars, presidents, aristocrats, bankers, people from high society, artists and writers, including Tolstoy and George Bernard Shaw, who referred to him as "the most astonishing sculptor of modern times". At the time, Troubetzkoy's works were compared to painted portraits by Giovanni Boldini and John Singer Sargent. This work is a prime example of the artist's smaller sculptures of beautiful and seductive women. Despite the hasty modelling and pasty surface, which give the sculpture a light-hearted and fleeting look, the work exudes elegance and refinement. The artist's many animal sculptures reflect that same craftsmanship.