Although generally remembered today for his figural group, "The Dance" (1866-1869), created for the façade of the Paris Opera House, Carpeaux, the son of a bricklayer, was the most popular portrait sculptor at the court of Emperor Napoleon III of France, who reigned from 1852 to 1870. In this striking representation, the artist Jean-Léon Gérôme gazed out, his expression a combination of fatigue and apprehension. The well-known academic master had fled to London during the upheavals of the Paris Commune (1871). While in England, he posed for this stirring portrayal for Carpeaux, also in exile. A bronze version of this bust was exhibited in Paris at the Salon of 1872. In addition to tow marble examples, there are several plaster casts, some given a bronze patina or, as in this work, a terra-cotta finish.