Auguste Rodin – The Age of Bronze – Autographed photograph.

Auguste Rodin (1840.1917)

Original autographed photograph.

Exceptional vintage photographic print featuring one of the sculptor's most famous works, created at the dawn of his career: The Age of Bronze .

Enriched in the left margin with a dedication by Rodin in black ink:

"Homage to Mademoiselle Verdier. Aug. Rodin"

_____________________________________________________________________________

Size: 22 x 28 cm. Modern brown wood frame, size 42 x 50 cm. Slight defect in the lower left corner.

Rodin's first major work, created in Brussels in 1877, this figure already demonstrates the sculptor's mastery, his attention to life in the pose and modeling. A young Belgian soldier, Auguste Neyt, posed for this work, which was devoid of any identifying features. It was exhibited at the Cercle Artistique in Brussels in 1877, without a title, and then at the Salon in Paris under the name The Age of Bronze , where it caused a scandal.

Accused at this Parisian exhibition of having molded it directly from the model, Rodin had to prove that the quality of his sculpture's modeling stemmed from a thorough study of profiles and not from a life cast. His detractors eventually acknowledged the sculptor's good faith. This resounding scandal, however, brought Rodin to wider attention and earned him the commission for The Gates of Hell in 1880.

The statue, also known as The Awakening Man or The Vanquished , evokes man from the earliest ages. He originally held a spear in his left hand, as shown in a photograph by Gaudenzio Marconi, but Rodin chose to remove it to free the arm from any attribute and give the gesture a new breadth.

_____________________________________________________________________________