Tete d’enfant Endormi was modeled during Dalou’s exile in England. It was conceived as part of the terracotta monument commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her five grandchildren who died in infancy. The monument is located in a niche in the Private Royal Chapel at Windsor Castle as part of the Royal collection. The head of the baby was first exhibited as an independent work at the Paris Salon of 1891, over a decade after Dalou had returned to France. The gentle, naturalistic modeling and charming appearance of the sculpture made it a popular work for collectors and it was cast in bronze in two sizes.

Aime Jules Dalou was one of the most prolific and successful monument makers in France during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Dalou received his first commission for a public monument for the Royal Exchange in London having been forced into exile to England because of his left-wing political views. This commission was a major turning point in the artist’s career. When he returned to Paris after the amnesty of 1879-80, only monuments celebrating the greatest men of ideals of his era could completely satisfy him. In Paris during the 1890s a number of Dalou’s monuments were erected and inaugurated to commemorate distinguished individuals. Each of these individuals was someone with whom Dalou felt a particular artistic, social, or political affinity.

Reference: Aimé-Jules Dalou (1897-1902). Online exhibition catalogue. London: Bowman Sculpture, 2014. Web. 29 November 2014.