2-748-414 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Young Woman and Child at Play, 1780s. The French sculptor Claude Michel, called Clodion (1738-1814), constructed much of his work in terracotta. After firing, the unglazed colour 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.