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Lot Essay
On 4 April 1898, Rodin signed a contract with the Thiébaut Frères foundry in Paris for a bronze edition of his sculpture Saint-Jean Baptist préchant. Three reductions were executed from the larger than life-size version acquired by the French government in 1881. The Thiébaut foundry handled the entire process - from casting to selling the works in its Avenue de l'Opéra gallery, and paid Rodin a 20 commission per month on each sale that was made. The present sculpture is the première réduction of which only five casts were made. Thiébaut Frères also cast eight proofs at 19¾ inches high and four proofs at 7 7/8 inches high. The edition contract was fulfilled in October 1907.
As John Tancock has commented on the present work, "It was while working on the figure of the saint... that Rodin evolved the attitude toward movement that henceforth was to characterize his art, for this is the first major work in which the pose of the figure is derived from the spontaneous movements of the model... Clumsy according to conventional standards... [the model's] forked stance enabled Rodin to see how a simple movement, from beginning to end, might be represented in the one figure" (J. Tancock, op. cit., pp. 363-364).
As John Tancock has commented on the present work, "It was while working on the figure of the saint... that Rodin evolved the attitude toward movement that henceforth was to characterize his art, for this is the first major work in which the pose of the figure is derived from the spontaneous movements of the model... Clumsy according to conventional standards... [the model's] forked stance enabled Rodin to see how a simple movement, from beginning to end, might be represented in the one figure" (J. Tancock, op. cit., pp. 363-364).