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Lot Essay
Rodin first exhibited his life size Eve in the 1899 Salon de la Société des Beaux-Arts with a magnificent early bronze cast belonging to his friend, the painter Henri Duhem. Despite this late entrée to the public, Eve was conceived as part of the La porte de l'enfer, a monumental portal commissioned by the French Government in 1880. Rodin first began working on Eve in 1881 using a young Italian professional model named Adéle Abruzzezzi.
At the time Rodin began working on Eve, Adéle, his model, was in the early stages of her pregnancy. The proportions of her body began to rapidly change and Rodin was unable to continue working. Abandoning the project rather than beginning again with a new model, Rodin later commented on Adele's pregnancy, "It is for this reason that my Eve is not finished" (Dujardin-Beaumetz, "Entretiens avec Rodin", 1913, p. 64). However Rodin was sufficiently satisfied with his progress up to that point, and cast the work life size in bronze.
In 1882-1883 Rodin sculpted a smaller version of Eve, and the plaster version was exhibited to great acclaim. The success of La petite Eve led Rodin to carve a marble version, purchased in 1885 by the poet and writer Auguste Vacquerie, and he went on to carve several additional marble versions with the assistance of his studio. The figure of Eve au rocher, in which a rock has been prominently added to the composition, creates a contrast between the rough chasing of the rock and the perfect surface of the female figure.
Rodin regularly kept and stored plaster casts of every marble carved by him or his studio. He then used the plaster as a reference for scale, to rework the subject by adding figures or cutting elements, or to cast bronze versions of the successful subjects. Recent documentation from the Rodin Museum in Paris have identified the marble version from which the present work originates; a plaster cast was taken from the marble version commissioned by the Brazilian collector Eduardo Prado in 1892 (now Museo Soumaya in Mexico). This marble is notable for the especially fine carving seen in the feet, hair and clenched right fist.
At the time Rodin began working on Eve, Adéle, his model, was in the early stages of her pregnancy. The proportions of her body began to rapidly change and Rodin was unable to continue working. Abandoning the project rather than beginning again with a new model, Rodin later commented on Adele's pregnancy, "It is for this reason that my Eve is not finished" (Dujardin-Beaumetz, "Entretiens avec Rodin", 1913, p. 64). However Rodin was sufficiently satisfied with his progress up to that point, and cast the work life size in bronze.
In 1882-1883 Rodin sculpted a smaller version of Eve, and the plaster version was exhibited to great acclaim. The success of La petite Eve led Rodin to carve a marble version, purchased in 1885 by the poet and writer Auguste Vacquerie, and he went on to carve several additional marble versions with the assistance of his studio. The figure of Eve au rocher, in which a rock has been prominently added to the composition, creates a contrast between the rough chasing of the rock and the perfect surface of the female figure.
Rodin regularly kept and stored plaster casts of every marble carved by him or his studio. He then used the plaster as a reference for scale, to rework the subject by adding figures or cutting elements, or to cast bronze versions of the successful subjects. Recent documentation from the Rodin Museum in Paris have identified the marble version from which the present work originates; a plaster cast was taken from the marble version commissioned by the Brazilian collector Eduardo Prado in 1892 (now Museo Soumaya in Mexico). This marble is notable for the especially fine carving seen in the feet, hair and clenched right fist.