La Jeunesse. Artist: Herbert Adams (American, West Concord, Vermont 1858-1945 New York). Dimensions: 22 3/4 x 31 x 10 3/4 in. (57.8 x 78.7 x 27.3 cm). Date: ca. 1894; carved ca. 1899-1900.Adams was one of only a handful of Americans who experimented around the turn of the century with polychromy and the use of multiple materials in a single work. "La Jeunesse," an allegory of youth, makes conscious allusion to Italian Renaissance art, showcasing Adams's Parisian academic training and cosmopolitanism. The sculptor's decorative heads, with their synthesis of European tradition and American modernity, drew comparisons to contemporaneous paintings of idealized female subjects. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.