Young Woman and Child at Play
follower of Clodion (French, 1738–1814)
1780s
- Medium
- terracotta
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- Overall: 30.8 x 29.1 x 22.4 cm (12 1/8 x 11 7/16 x 8 13/16 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of John L. Severance
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The French sculptor Claude Michel, called Clodion (1738–1814), constructed much of his work in terracotta. After firing, the unglazed color of the clay can vary widely, so each of Clodion's works in this medium has a slightly different hue, in this case a smooth reddish gray. Clodion depicts a mother nursing her newborn with painstaking attention to detail, from the tendrils of hair that cascade gracefully down to the mother's shoulders to the brilliant bouquet at the pair's feet.
