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Lot Essay
Helene von Nostitz (née Hindenburg) met Rodin through Count Harry Kessler at the celebrated Rodin exhibition at the Alma Pavillion in 1900. Helene von Nostitz, then 20 years old, was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time. Rodin befriended her not only for her beauty, expressed by the artist in marble, clay, plaster, bronze, silver and glass, but also for her interest in art and music. Punctuated by several stays at the Hindenburg family residence near Livorno in Italy, Rodin exchanged numerous letters with Helene on subjects such as the influence of Italian art or the importance and innovations of the German composers.
According to the most recent research, carried out for the exhibition Rodin und Helene von Nostitz at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich where the present work was exhibited, Helene von Nostitz sat to Rodin from November 1902 for a portrait in marble, completed only in 1908. Sixteen plaster studies exist, housed in the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as several bronzes in private and public collections and a marble in the Neue Pinakothek. Only one silver cast is known, the present work, kept by the family of the sitter until now.
According to the most recent research, carried out for the exhibition Rodin und Helene von Nostitz at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich where the present work was exhibited, Helene von Nostitz sat to Rodin from November 1902 for a portrait in marble, completed only in 1908. Sixteen plaster studies exist, housed in the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as several bronzes in private and public collections and a marble in the Neue Pinakothek. Only one silver cast is known, the present work, kept by the family of the sitter until now.