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Bust - Balzac

Balzac

  • Object:

    Bust

  • Place of origin:

    France (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1891- ca. 1892 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Rodin, Auguste (designer and maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Bronze

  • Credit Line:

    Given by the artist

  • Museum number:

    A.42-1914

  • Gallery location:

    Sculpture, room 21, case FS, shelf WN

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The bust is cast from one of the first studies in clay for a monument commemorating the French writer Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), commissioned in 1891 by the Society of Writers under the presidency of Emile Zola.

Balzac had then been dead for over 40 years. Rodin attempted to overcome this difficulty by researching the writer's life and visiting the region around Tours where he had lived in order to study the local facial types. But another, and more reliable, source for this bust was a portrait of Balzac of about 1822, attributed to Achille Devéria. The spirited and free handling of the clay of the original study, retained in the bronze, together with the erect head and direct gaze of the sitter, convey the confidence and determination associated with youth. Later - and controversially - Rodin decided to represent Balzac as an older rather haggard man, over life size, and enveloped in a long, loose robe.

Place of Origin

France

Date

ca. 1891- ca. 1892 (made)

Artist/maker

Rodin

Materials and Techniques

Bronze

Marks and inscriptions

"A. Rodin" Inscribed on the front of the left shoulder
"Alexis Rudier/Fondeur, Paris" Inscribed on the back of the right shoulder
"ALEXIS RUDIER.FONDEUR.PARIS" Marked

Dimensions

Height: 41.5 cm (excluding base)

Object history note

Given by the artist in 1914

Descriptive line

Bust of Honoré de Balzac, by Auguste Rodin, French, bronze, ca. 1891-2

Labels and date

This bust is an early study for Rodin's controversial monument to the French writer, Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), commissioned in 1891 by the Société des Gens des Lettres, and completed in 1898. The plaster model was rejected by the Société, as being a 'shapeless mass', and Rodin took it to his home at Meudon; it was eventually cast in bronze after his death.
This bust is cast from an early study for the monument to the French writer Balzac (1799-1850). The spirited handling of the clay, retained in the bronze, suggests the vitality of youth. In 1914, Rodin exhibited the bust in a London exhibition of French contemporary art. This was a reference to his final, highly controversial monument to Balzac, which showed him as an older man enveloped in a loose robe.

Materials

Bronze

Categories

Sculpture

Collection code

SCP

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Qr_O135951
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