The high-quality bronzes are attributed to Claude Galle. A si milar clock was shown in the Exhibition DeNoir etdD;; Brussels 1993; it is a very rare piece since the exhibition catalogue mentioned that no other example was then known. Literatur e Exposition an Musee Bellevue "De Noir et d'Or", pendules "au bon sauvage". Collection M & Mme Francois Duesberg, Brussels, 1993. Paul and Virginie Bernardin de Saint Pierre's story of Paul and Virginie (1788), is a forerunner of romanticism in literature in so far as the author, disciple of Rousseau's philosophy, is influenced by the novel Julie ou In nouvelle Heloi'se. In Art History, this novel left its mark on the revival of exoticism. It brought a renewal in the manner of depicting nature through the exoticism of the tropics which Bernardin do Saint Pierre knew very well from his travels. The story tells of two young teenagers, Virginie and Paul, brought up together by their mothers, one of noble stock, the other a commoner, who went to find refuge in the beautiful French island of Mauritius. The place is exquisitely described by Bernardin de Saint Pierre with a precision rarely seen previously in French literature. It is in the natural innocence and the exotic splendour of this island that the teenagers discovered happiness and love. Virginie's mother, considering that love between the two youths was premature, sent Virginie to Paris to finish her studies. When Virginie returned, she was shipwrecked off the island under Paul's eyes. Transformed by her Christian education, the young girl refused to get undressed to swim ashore. Her angelic sense of modesty brought about her death. Paul's despair was such that he did not survive. This very moving end contributed to the huge success of the novel.