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Signed Fcois. Rude, and with title label Le Chant du Depart par Rude Bas Relief de l'Arc de Triomphe Bronze, mid-brown patination, on separately cast rectangular waisted socle 64 cm (25 1/4 in) The Head of the Old Warrior, taken from the main figure in Rude's monumental relief on the Arc de Triomphe, Departure of the Volunteers, was reproduced in different sizes and materials. The present bronze is the same size as the documented cast made from a maquette of the Head by Rude's student Paul Cabet (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Dijon). Other similar bronzes are in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Glasgow Art Gallery. The Head is also known in smaller bronzes (circa 12 inches), in terracotta and in plaster. Rude's Departure of the Volunteers is one of the supreme symbols of Romantic sculpture and the figure of the Old Warrior, also called the Old Gaul, is its central protagonist. The Head of the Old Warrior's "furrowed brow, intense gaze, and long unruly mane - vaguely reminiscent of the Laocoon - convey the warrior's passionate dedication to the patriotic cause" (Romantics to Rodin, p.354). Comparative Literature: J.B. Speed Art Museum, Nineteenth Century French Sculpture: Monuments for the Middle Class, Louisville, 1971, cat.pp 326-38, n.87 P. Fusco and H.W. Janson, (eds.) The Romantics to Rodin, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980, cat.pp 353-54, no. 212.