Eugene-Antoine AIZELIN (1821-1902), Reading Lesson

Bronze, patinated casting; height 62 cm, width 43 cm, depth 26 cm.
France, Paris, Ferdinand BARBEDIENNE (1810-1892) - Foundry, 1886.
Female figure in antique ruffled robe, with hair pinned up in a bun, standing by a column against which she leans with her left elbow. In her right hand she holds a branch, with which she points the inscription on the column to a naked boy standing in front of the pedestal and trailing his finger over the letters of the inscription ["COTTA. IM / VICT. O.M.A. /-/ ANNO XX"] (?). Signature on the base: "EUGNE AIZELIN"; on the back:
"27 F. BARBEDIENNE FONDEUR" and a circular stamp with a male profile in the middle and an inscription in the rim: "REDUCTION MECANIQUE A. COLLAS / BREVETE."
[Achille Collas (1795-1859) - engineer, inventor of a system for reducing sculptures and copying them to any scale; from 1838 he worked with Barbedienne's Paris foundry].
The sculpture "Childhood of Tacitus" is noted on page 43 of the foundry's 1886 catalog. Casts of various sizes are known, with slight differences in detail. [Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 55 -120) - one of the most famous Roman historians].