Signed 'A. Rodin' on the right-hand side; also with 'ALEXIS RUDIER/FONDEUR PARIS' foundry stamp on the underside edge, to the left, bronze with black patina on a white onyx plinth
Height (with plinth): 7 5/8 in. (19.4cm)
Height (without plinth): 4 5/8 in. (11.7cm)
Conceived before 1905; this example cast in 1927.

Provenance

Musée Rodin, Paris.
Acquired directly from the above in February 1943.
Private Collection, Germany.
(Possibly) acquired from the above.
Private Estate, New Jersey, by 1950.
By descent in the family.
Private Collection, New Jersey.

Exhibited

"Rodin Udstillingen Skulpturer; Malerier; Tegninger," Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 1930, no. 106.

Note

The present piece is a preparatory study for Rodin’s 1905 larger relief, Le Poète et la Muse, the plaster version of which is in the Musée Rodin, Paris. Caught in a passionate embrace, the two figures showcase the moment preceding the creation as the muse whispers to the poet’s ear: “Take your Luth, Poet and Kiss Me.” According to the Comité Rodin, the sculptor requested at least one bronze of this model to Alexis Rudier around 1910-1915. The Musée Rodin commissioned two other editions to Rudier Foundry in 1923 and 1927.

This work will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Critique de l'oeuvre sculpté d'Auguste Rodin currently being prepared by the Comité Rodin in collaboration with Galerie Brame & Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2022-6531B.