Joseph-Antoine Bernard (1866-1931) came from a family of stone hewers; a grant enabled him to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (1881) then at the fine art school in Paris from 1885.
He gradually freed himself from the decisive influence of Rodin and pathetic feeling and worked in an increasingly sober, monumental manner.
Giving up the attempt at achieving realistic detail and turning away from clay modelling, he worked on dry plaster and directly on stone, as for this head. He was one of the first to return to working directly on stone and achieved denser volumes, simpler forms and very powerful archaic effects.