JEWELLERY, ANTIQUE & ART Tuesday, 22 January 2019 - 10:00 AM start
Auguste Rodin
Realised: $3,250 plus premium
Lot Details
'Naked Balzac with Folded Arms', cast bronze, signature to the base. H.715mm. Probably a mid 20thC casting from the 1892 original. Note: In 1891, Rodin received a commission for a statue of novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799- 1850). The figure of Balzac as a man of great physical appetites and strength is Rodin's second conception of the figure. Balzac stands legs wide apart and arms folded over his powerful girth. Between his legs is a tree stump form - an unnecessary support for the piece - which emphasizes the subject as rooted to the earth. Rodin's idea is that Balzac was a confident man who grew up on the land, a force of nature. ‘For me, Balzac is… a creator, and this is the idea I would wish to make understood in my statue.’
