Conceived in plaster in 1925. The following year, Brancusi produced a unique bronze cast that was purchased directly from the artist in France by the famous American photographer Edward Steichen (now in the collection of the Seattle Art Museum). Following the artist’s death in 1957, and with permission from Alexandre Istrati and Natalia Dumitresco, the designated heirs of the artist, eight numbered bronze casts were made, including the present work. Cast in bronze by the Susse Foundry in Paris, the present work is number 7 of 8 from the edition and was cast in 2001 from a copy of the original plaster model held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Beginning in 2007, the present work was on permanent loan to the Albertina Museum in Vienna from Herbert and Rita Batliner, distinguished European art collectors who amassed a collection of over 500 works by the most important names in modern and postwar art. The other casts from the edition of eight are in major museums including the National Gallery in Berlin and the Museum of Modern Art in Shiga, Japan, as well as in important private collections in New York, Los Angeles, Monte-Carlo, Rome, and Cologne. This work is accompanied by a copy of a certificate of authenticity issued by Théodore Nicol, dated February 21, 2002.