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This highly unusual sculpture of the young artist attracted great attention due to its unusual lifelikeness. It was even doubted that it was modeled freehand.
Dupré's Abel not only brought academic Neoclassicism to an end; its unsparing naturalism also opened the way to a new era in European sculpture.
The sculpture was commissioned by Grand Duke Leopold II, together with Cain, its companion piece. The original marble versions are in The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, the later bronze versions are in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
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