Matisse's sculptural method was indebted to Auguste Rodin. Like Rodin, Matisse modelled the skin with a rough texture that caught the light unevenly and gave his figures a lively, animated appearance. Jeanette II is one of a series of five busts of a young woman, Jeannette Vaderin, who was convalescing near Matisse's home in 1910. The first two busts were executed in front of the model and are quite naturalistic, while the three later versions are progressively more stylized. In this work, the hair is transformed into a sculptural wave, and the nose has been pushed sideways to give the woman a quizzical look.