Robert Wlérick (1882-1944) was an important French sculptor whose refined figurative bronzes secured him a substantial place within the early twentieth century French sculptural tradition. Born in Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France, he pursued his early training at the Toulouse École des Beaux-Arts from 1899 to 1904 before moving to Paris in 1906. There he encountered Guillaume Apollinaire, who praised his considerable gifts, and he became a member of the bande à Schnegg, the influential circle of sculptors gathered around Lucien Schnegg. Among the friendships he formed within this group, his bond with the sculptor Charles Despiau proved especially enduring, and their work continues to be exhibited together today.

Wlérick's practice was interrupted by the First World War, during which he served as a trauma surgeon reconstructing the shattered faces of soldiers wounded in combat, an experience of the human form under extreme conditions that stayed with him. In 1923, alongside Despiau, he took part in the inaugural Salon des Tuileries, one of the important annual venues for modern French sculpture.

Among the figures that established Wlérick's reputation were The Bather with a Turban (1919), The Seated Bather (1921), Hellenistic Calm (1928), Meditation (1928-1929), and Tribute to Baudelaire (1942-1943). His major public commissions included Pomona, Zeus, and The Offering, installed at the Palais de Chaillot for the 1937 Universal Exhibition in Paris. He was engaged by the French state for numerous war monuments as well, including tributes to Marshal Foch in Paris and to Condorcet in Ribemont.

Wlérick's body of work is known for its refined aesthetic, calm and measured in expression and largely free of superfluous ornament. His figures possess a quiet gravity that draws on the classical tradition while remaining unmistakably modern in feeling. He was named Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1926 in recognition of his contributions to French sculpture, and his work is held today in significant French museum collections.