Statue
Artist/Maker: Brucha
Possibly Produced by Plaster Cast Company: Hennecke or Caproni
Style: Neoclassical

This neoclassical sculpture of a young man and woman running depicts the characters Paul & Virginia from the French novel Paul Et Virginie by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre published in 1787. It was sculpted by the artist Brucha.

The novel's title characters are very good friends since birth who fall in love but sadly die when the ship "Le Saint-Geran" is shipwrecked. The story is based on the island of Mauritius under French rule, and then named Île de France, which the author had visited. Written on the eve of the French Revolution, the novel is hailed as Bernardin's finest work.
Plaster cast. H 71.0, W 27.0, D 25.0 cm
Clara Barton National Historic Site, CLBA 543