Rodin’s model for Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, music, poetry, crafts, and defense, was Marianna Russell (Italian, 1865–1908). Although she wears a helmet and breastplate decorated with a fierce Medusa’s head, this Minerva’s expression emphasizes the goddess’s intellectual and creative qualities.

Russell was a popular artist’s model and had previously posed for French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet’s Joan of Arc.