Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

La mort d'Adonis

Details

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
La mort d'Adonis
signed on the front of the base 'A. Rodin', inscribed with foundry mark and dated on the back of the base '.Georges Rudier. Fondeur. Paris. © musée Rodin 1965'
bronze with black and green patina
Length: 11 1/8in. (28.3cm.)
Original plaster version executed circa 1888; this bronze version cast in 1965

Provenance

Musée Rodin, Paris
Dominion Gallery, Montreal (acquired by the present owner, 1987)

Literature

G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, no. 182 (marble version illustrated, p. 71)
I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 102
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, no. 43, pp. 276-279 (plaster version illustrated, p. 277)

Lot Essay

In Ovid's version of the Greek myth, Venus favored the youth Adonis because of his great beauty. Although she warned him not to hunt, he disobeyed her and was killed by a wild boar. Venus is shown here grieving over the dead body of her beloved.