Young Woman Carrying a Child on Her Left Shoulder

Though never elected to full membership in the Academy, Clodion was one of the most esteemed sculptors of the eighteenth century, and during his first residence in Rome he shared a studio with Jean-Antoine Houdon. Clodion worked frequently with terracotta, or baked clay, a material that was traditionally used by sculptors to explore ideas for larger projects in more expensive materials; it was highly prized by collectors around the middle of the eighteenth century for its sketchy, provisional qualities. Clodion responded to the growing market for terracotta sculpture by producing numerous small-scale works such as these. Toward the end of the century, he favored groups with inverted poses, such as these two figures carrying putti on opposite shoulders and turning in opposite directions, and he embraced the neoclassical style, basing the figures’ drapery and hairstyles on ancient models.