Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)

L'éternelle idole, étude de femme

Details

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)
L'éternelle idole, étude de femme
signed, inscribed, numbered and dated 'A.Rodin/N2/C.Rudier/Fondeur Paris ©c by Musée Rodin 1958' (on the side of the base) and stamped with the raised signature 'A.Rodin' (on the interior of the base)
bronze with a green and mid-brown patina
7 in. (17.8 cm.) high
Conceived in 1889 and cast in 1958

Literature

G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, no. 204 (the full composition illustrated).
I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 103 (the full composition illustrated in marble pl. 58).
R. Descharnes and J. F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, London, 1967 (the large plaster version of the full composition illustrated p. 138).
J. L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 30 and 210 (the full composition illustrated pls. 9-10).

Lot Essay

The present work is a study for the female figure of L'eternelle idole and is recorded under number 902 in the archives of the Musée Rodin. The female figure was re-used by Rodin in two further compositions, both of which separate her from the adoring kiss bestowed upon her by her lover. The first places her leaning back against a larger figure and is called Vulcan creating Pandora. The other, entitled The Creation pits her once more with her lover, this time inanimately and impassionately, encompassed by the creative arms of God.

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