Mask Seller Sculpture, Paris

The famous bronze sculpture "The Mask Seller" (Le Marchand de masks) by Zacharie Astruc is located on a shady sycamore alley in the western part of the Luxembourg Gardens. The statue was cast in bronze in 1883.

The monument depicts a nude young man holding a theatrical mask in a raised hand.

But the most interesting part lies at the base of the monument — on its pedestal, arranged in a circle, are bronze posthumous and lifetime masks of the great contemporaries and friends of the sculptor, who left their mark on French culture in the 19th century. Here you can recognize the faces of Victor Hugo, Édouard Manet, Jules Baréyre, Théodore de Banville, and other figures of art.