Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Frère et soeur

Details

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Frère et soeur
signed 'A. Rodin' (on the front of the base) and inscribed with foundry mark 'Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris' (on the back of the base); with raised signature 'A. Rodin' (on the inside)
bronze with brown patina
Height: 15 in. (38.5 cm.)
Conceived circa 1890-1891; this bronze version cast before 1911

Provenance

Alfred Samuel Heidelbach, Paris (acquired from the artist, circa 1914).
Julie Heidelbach; Estate sale, Alphonse Bellier, Paris, 16 December 1933, lot 2.
Charles Lévy, Paris (acquired at the above sale).
Acquired from the family of the above by the present owner.

Literature

G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, p. 67, no. 166 (another cast illustrated).
G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1929, p. 81, no. 192 (another cast illustrated).
G. Grappe, Le Musée Rodin, Paris, 1944, p. 141, pl. 56 (marble version illustrated).
G. Grappe, Le Musée Rodin, Paris, 1947, p. 143, no. 97 (another cast illustrated).
E. Herriot, Rodin, Paris, 1949, nos. 34-35 (other casts illustrated).
M. Aubert, Rodin Sculptures, Paris, 1952, p. 49 (another cast illustrated).
B. Champigneulle, Rodin, London, 1967, p. 283, no. 107 (another cast illustrated, p. 214).
I. Jianou and C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 104.
L. Goldscheider, Rodin Sculptures, London, 1970, p. 122, no. 60 (another cast illustrated).
J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, p. 222, no. 25-2 (another cast illustrated, p. 223).

Lot Essay

Frere et soeur is unusual within Rodin's oeuvre for its treatment of the subject of maternal or sibling love. A possible prototype for the child is found in Idylle d'Ixelles, executed in 1876 when Rodin was in Belgium and known to have modeled numerous studies of children. The origin of the principal figure is the female nude that appears in his marble high relief Galatea, carved in 1889. The pairing of the two figures in Frere et soeur is also related to Absolution, 1890, in which one female figure crouches on the lap of another. In its charm, the present work harkens back to the time when Rodin worked in Carrier-Belleuse's studio.

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