DUBOIS Paul (1829-1905) - Saint John the Baptist as a child

Large bronze sculpture with original brown patina, signed on the terrace P. DUBOIS Rome 1861, F. BARBEDIENNE Fondeur and bearing the mechanical reduction stamp Collas.
DUBOIS Paul (1829-1905) was a French painter and sculptor who entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1858, spending a year there and then 4 years in Italy, where Florentine Renaissance sculpture had a definitive influence on his art.
He debuted at the Salon in 1857 and exhibited his Saint Jean Baptiste and his Florentine Singer in 1864 and 1865 respectively, two works that were to make him famous.