Auguste Rodin’s wax portrait Madame Russell depicts one of his models, formerly Marianna Mattiocco. It was commissioned by expatriate Australian artist John Russell in 1888, possibly to commemorate his marriage to her. This is the second of four wax portraits Rodin is known to have made of Madame Russell, whom he considered to be the ‘most beautiful woman in Paris'.

Rodin became a celebrated figure in nineteenth-century French art for his prolific production of ambitious sculptures that challenged previous notions of realism. Because academic idealisation was the prevailing taste at the time, Rodin received criticism for his work, which appeared ‘too realistic’ by comparison. He was accused of taking casts directly from his models to achieve a naturalism that previous artists had never attained through the conventional techniques of carving or modelling.