Embroideress

In the 1860s first writers, then painters began to look around them to observe the realism of everyday life. Sculptors were somewhat slower. When Dalou modeled his Embroideress in the last year of the Second Empire, he needed only to look at his wife in her camisole. The pose is just right, the dress familiar. This is not a Greek or Roman woman any longer, this is a Parisian, seen at home. The large plaster version no longer exists, but a sketch bear witness to Dalou's new way of looking at the world.