Marie-Marie-Rose Beuret met Auguste Rodin in 1864 when she was employed as a seamstress at the Théâtre des Gobelines in Paris and he was working as a statuary mason in Hussmann’s Paris. She soon became Rodin’s mistress and by 1866 had given birth to a son named Auguste. Their correspondence suggests that they shared a passionate involvement in the early years, and although the relationship suffered infidelities, they never separated and remained deeply attached. She soon became Rodin’s mistress and by 1866 had given birth to a son named Auguste. Rodin’s dedicated life partner was trusted with the care and keeping of his clay models and domestic affairs, yet the artist did not marry her until 1917, fifty-six three years later, a few two weeks before she died. Her death in February that same year, and a few months before the death of Rodin himself. The present model, known under the names Rose Beuret and Mask of Madame Rodin, was conceived around 1882 and depicts Rose at about the age of forty, her closed eyes and serious expression contrast the lively, fiery figure shown in other earlier works modelled by the artist of his partner – namely, Mignon and Bellona.

After the scandal caused by the Age of Bronze at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in 1877, where Rodin was accused of making body casts of his models, the artist was careful to avoid controversy in his later oeuvre. His portrait of Rose Beuret is therefore slightly smaller than life size and there is little in the way of sharpness to the features or hair.

Rodin exhibited this work for the first time at the Pavillon de l’Alma in 1900. As of 1904, the Mask was exhibited at multiple events, most famously at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf. This particular cast was exhibited in Lausanne (Switzerland) in the 1964 exhibition Chefs d’oeuvre des collections Suisses: de Manet à Picasso.