Cast at the Art Bronze foundry, London In 1961, McWilliam made three separate bronze studies, of which this is number two, in preparation for his large scale Puy de Dome Figure, 1962. The large bronze was commissioned for the grounds of Southampton University, and was deemed by René d’Harnoncourt, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, to be ‘one of the most striking exhibits...a gleaming geometric figure based on triangles with a textured surface'. The Puy de Dôme sculptures were inspired by McWilliam’s trip to the ancient French volcano in the Auvergne. He translated the ancient natural forms into those of an abstract reclining nude figure.