Why Born Enslaved!
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
modeled 1868, cast 1872
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
confirmed: 21 1/8 × 17 1/2 × 13 3/4 in. (53.7 × 44.5 × 34.9 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
French, Auteuil
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of James S. Deely, in memory of Patricia Johnson Deely, 1997
Accession Number
1997.491
Tags
Female Nudes
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux · 1827–1875
Carpeaux's exuberant work was a decisive break from Neoclassical art. He won the Prix de Rome in 1854 and received many portrait bust commissions from the court. His most famous sculpture group is 'La Danse' (1869) made for the Paris Opéra. So bold is its message of bacchanalian revelry that it was vandalized in protest. French artist.