Lot Essay
Le baiser was originally conceived for La porte de l'enfer. Although the sculpture is usually dated 1886, the subject was conceived much earlier. The lovers are from a tale in Dante's Inferno, in which an adulterous passion consumes Francesca da Rimini and her husband's brother Paolo Malatesta. Of all the love stories in Dante, this forbidden liaison, associated with courtly love, had the greatest resonance for modern readers.
Rodin considered the group to be too large for La porte de l'enfer and subsequently removed it from the design. He executed a life-size version in painted plaster which he included in his exhibition at the 1887 Salon in Brussels. Known as Franoise de Rimini it proved very popular. Rather than ship the sculpture back to Paris, Rodin gave it to his old Belgian friend Paul de Vignes.
On the last day of 1887, Rodin was granted the Legion d'Honneur, and early the next year he received a commission of 20,000FF from the French government to create a larger-than-life Franois de Rimini, for which the state also provided a top-quality block of marble. Work progressed slowly, and the marble sculpture, now known as Le baiser, was finally exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1898.
In 1836, Achille Collas introduced a mechanical system for reducing and enlarging sculpture. Louis-Ferdinand Barbdienne, the founder of the present cast, purchased the rights to use the Collas technique and in 1898 he worked with Rodin to produce a limited editon of casts of Le baiser and of L'ternel printemps.
Rodin considered the group to be too large for La porte de l'enfer and subsequently removed it from the design. He executed a life-size version in painted plaster which he included in his exhibition at the 1887 Salon in Brussels. Known as Franoise de Rimini it proved very popular. Rather than ship the sculpture back to Paris, Rodin gave it to his old Belgian friend Paul de Vignes.
On the last day of 1887, Rodin was granted the Legion d'Honneur, and early the next year he received a commission of 20,000FF from the French government to create a larger-than-life Franois de Rimini, for which the state also provided a top-quality block of marble. Work progressed slowly, and the marble sculpture, now known as Le baiser, was finally exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1898.
In 1836, Achille Collas introduced a mechanical system for reducing and enlarging sculpture. Louis-Ferdinand Barbdienne, the founder of the present cast, purchased the rights to use the Collas technique and in 1898 he worked with Rodin to produce a limited editon of casts of Le baiser and of L'ternel printemps.