Bronze Sculpture by Louis Ernest Barrias – ‘La Nature se dévoilant á la Science’

This French Art Nouveau bronze sculpture, titled “La Nature se dévoilant á la Science” by Ernest Barrias, displays a woman lifting a large gilded draped fabric from her body to expose her visage and bare chest. “La Nature se dévoilant á la Science” translates to English as “Nature unveiling herself to Science.” This woman serves as an allegorical figure representing nature. She is clothed from her sternum down, with a lapis lazuli scarab securing the bronze drapery that encases her nude form.