Henry CROS (1840-1907) Head of a young girl with a diadem Polychrome glass paste. Small chip on top H. 16.5 cm Henry Cros was one of the pioneers in the rediscovery of the pâte de verre technique. In the preface to Henry Cros's after-sales catalog, Auguste Rodin wrote of him: "His sculpture has that serenity which makes it akin to Greek art; it is, I think, the highest praise one can bestow on an artist. Cros was one of the most glorious men of the 19th century. He has passed, unknown". Born into a literate family, Henry Cros studied with sculptor François Jouffroy and Louis-Jules Etex at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He also took painting lessons from Jules-Emmanuel Valadon, trying his hand at encaustic, oil and watercolor painting. In 1883, he tried his hand at pâte de verre after seeing two medallions in this technique at the Louvre. His submission of three pâte de verre pieces to the Exposition Universelle in 1889 earned him a silver medal, and the following year he triumphed with the same process, winning a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle for L'Histoire du feu (Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs).