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The Young Mother

Relief
1885 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Rodin drew and modelled clay studies of mother and child groups in the 1860s, some of which survive in the Musée Rodin. Many of them were based on Rose Beuret, his mistress, and their son Auguste, born on 23 January 1866. He then continued to explore the possibilities of these groups in his work for the Sèvres porcelain works and, in the 1880s, for The Gates of Hell (the bronze portal and doors for the new Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, which he was asked to design in 1880). One version of this composition can be seen on the lower left corner of The Gates.

This plaster has also been known as 'The Young Mother at the Grotto', referring to the cave-like surround. There is another cast of the same subject in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, known as 'Mother and Daughter' and a related compostion of a young girl holding a baby in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, is known as 'Sister and Brother'. The composition was also the inspiration for a work by the British sculptor John Tweed, who was a great admirer and supporter of Rodin.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Young Mother (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Plaster
Brief description
Sketch model, The Young Mother, by Auguste Rodin, French, plaster, 1885
Dimensions
  • Height: 36.5cm
  • Weight: 5.3kg
Marks and inscriptions
A mon ami C. Phillips. A. Rodin (Inscribed on the lower front of the surround)
Gallery label
Rodin had drawn and modelled clay studies of mother and child groups in the 1860s. Many were based on his lover, Rose Beuret, and their son Auguste. He continued to explore this theme in the 1880s, in his work for the Gates of Hell and the Sèvres porcelain factory. This sketch inspired John Tweed's Mother and Child displayed on the right.(March 2007)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Sir Claude Phillips
Object history
Bequeathed by Sir Claude Phillips
Subject depicted
Summary
Rodin drew and modelled clay studies of mother and child groups in the 1860s, some of which survive in the Musée Rodin. Many of them were based on Rose Beuret, his mistress, and their son Auguste, born on 23 January 1866. He then continued to explore the possibilities of these groups in his work for the Sèvres porcelain works and, in the 1880s, for The Gates of Hell (the bronze portal and doors for the new Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, which he was asked to design in 1880). One version of this composition can be seen on the lower left corner of The Gates.

This plaster has also been known as 'The Young Mother at the Grotto', referring to the cave-like surround. There is another cast of the same subject in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, known as 'Mother and Daughter' and a related compostion of a young girl holding a baby in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, is known as 'Sister and Brother'. The composition was also the inspiration for a work by the British sculptor John Tweed, who was a great admirer and supporter of Rodin.
Bibliographic references
  • Hawkins, Jennifer, Rodin Sculptures, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 975, p. 20, ill. 9
  • Butler, Ruth and Glover Lindsay, Suzanne, European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century, Washington, National Gallery of Art, distributed by Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 2000, p.352, fig. 2, another version 'Mother in the Grotto', plaster 1855 (F29-7-102).
  • Gsell, Paul. L'Art. p. 306.
  • Cladel, Judith. Auguste Rodin. pl. facing p. 24.
  • Grantoff, O. Auguste Rodin. p. 53.
  • Cf. Lawton, Frederick. The life and works of Auguste Rodin. London, 1906. pp. 112, 115.
  • Butler, Ruth, Lindsay, Suzanne G., et al. European sculpture of the nineteenth century. Washington, New York, 2001. pp. 351-352.
  • Alley, R. The foreign paintings, drawings and sculpture. London, 1959. p. 226.
  • Williamson, Paul. Recent acquisitions(2000-06) of sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Burlington Magazine. CXLVIII. 2006. p. 894.
Collection
Accession number
A.25-1924

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Record createdJune 5, 2007
Record URL
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