A MID 19TH CENTURY FRENCH BRONZE OF VIRGINIE the youthful maiden seated on a rock and holding a fishing net, a tropical plant beside her and an urn, dressed in Arabian style drapery, on a naturalistic base, dark brown patination, 28cm high This bronze probably represents Virginie from the novel Paul et Virginie which is set in Mauritius, by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, first published in 1788.