Night

Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-27) is probably best known as a sculptor of small-scale bronzes and terracotta sculptures which were conceived from the outset as compositions to be replicated in considerable numbers. This is an example, where the terracotta was cast in a mould which had been created to reproduce the statuette a number of times. However, as frequently with Carrier-Belleuse's work, the clay was then worked on while it was wet, before firing, to give it the appearance of having been freshly modelled. Assistants were used in his studio to carry out some of the work, notably Rodin at the start of his career. Small statuettes such as these would have been intended for the steadily growing middle-class market and their reproduction was commercially successful in this context.