Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

The commission for La Porte de l'Enfer allowed Rodin the opportunity to experiment extensively with figure compositions, singly and in groups, in which he could work on a smaller scale than his earlier sculptures, and further refine his intensity of expression. A common theme among these sculptures is human love, expressed not in the tired allegorical conventions of the period, but in more novel, passionate and purely human terms.

As in many of his great figure groupings, Rodin developed the character in L'ternel Printemps from earlier material. The figure of the woman is derived from Torse d'Adle, which appears on the top left corner of the tympanum of La Porte de l'Enfer. The lovers were originally known as Zphyr et la Terre and were exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1898 as Cupidon et Psych (there are small Cupid's wings on the back of the man).

Due to its popularity, Rodin executed a second version of L'ternel Printemps, with an extended base and a rocky outcrop to support the left arm and outstretched leg of the male figure. This version became the model for the Barbedienne series of casts which were produced in three sizes over a period of twenty-one years.