Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Le baiser

细节

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Le baiser
stamped 'RODIN' (on the right side), and inscribed with foundry mark 'F. BARBEDIENNE. Fondeur.' (on the left side)
bronze with brown patina
Height: 10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm.)
Conceived in 1886; this bronze version cast between 1898-1918

出版

G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, p. 47, nos. 91 and 92 (marble version illustrated).
G. Grappe, Le Musée Rodin, Paris, 1947, p. 142, no. 71 (marble version illustrated).
C. Goldscheider, Rodin, sa vie, son oeuvre, son héritage, Paris, 1962, p. 49 (marble version illustrated).
A.E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, p. 62 (another cast illustrated, p. 63).
B. Champigneulle, Rodin, London, 1967, pp. 157 and 282, nos. 78-79 (plaster version illustrated).
R. Descharnes and J-F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Lausanne, 1967, p. 130 (marble version illustrated in color, p. 131).
I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Auguste Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 100, pls. 54-55 (marble version illustrated).
L. Goldscheider, Rodin Sculptures, London, 1970, no. 49 (marble version illustrated).
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 72, 90 and 108 (marble version illustrated, p. 77).
N. Barbier, Marbrès de Rodin: Collection du Musée, Paris, 1987, p. 184, no. 79 (marble version illustrated, p. 185).

拍品专文

Le baiser was originally planned for one of the doors of La porte de l'Enfer but it was removed from the final design because Rodin considered it too large. The inspiration for the sculpture is taken from Dante's Inferno and represents the two lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca de Rimini. Of all Dante's love stories, this forbidden liaison, so reminiscent of courtly love, had the greatest resonance for a late 19th century audience. Although Le baiser is usually dated 1886, the subject was likely conceived much earlier. There is a similar group of embracing lovers in the clay model of La porte de l'Enfer which was probably executed not long after Rodin received the commission in 1880, and its subject and style is also related to L'éternel Printemps (see lot 112) which was probably modeled in 1884. In 1887 Rodin excecuted a life-size version in painted plaster that came to be known as François da Rimini and he exhibited it in 1887 in Brussels. Following his election to the Legion d'Honneur that same year, the French government commissioned him to do a larger-than-life marble version of the plaster. Work progressed slowly and the marble sculpture, now known as Le baiser, was finally exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1898.