L'enfant prodigue, petit modèle

Details

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
L'enfant prodigue, petit modèle
signed 'A. Rodin' (on the right of the base) and inscribed with the foundry mark 'Georges Rudier Fondeur Paris c Musée Rodin 1959'
(on the back of the base); with the raised signature 'A. Rodin' (on the inside)
bronze with dark brown patina
Height: 21 5/8 in. (55.4 cm.)
Conceived in 1889; this bronze version cast by Georges Rudier in 1959 in an edition of nine (nos. 4 to 12)

Provenance

Acquired by the late James Fairfax, by 1969.

Literature

L. Maillard, Études sur quelques artistes originaux, August Rodin statuaire, Paris, 1899, pp. 117 & 120 (limestone version illustrated p. 117).
R.M. Rilke, Auguste Rodin, Berlin, 1903, pp. 115-116.
F. Lawton, The Life and Work of Auguste Rodin, London, 1906, p. 228.
A. Rodin, L'Art, Entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell, Paris, 1911, pp. 31-32 (limestone version illustrated p. 32).
W. Butterworth, A Visit to Rodin, London, 1912, p. 7.
P. Gsell, 'En haut de la colline', in L'art et les artistes, no. 109, 1914, pp. 62-63.
G. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, no. 220, p. 82 (plaster version illustrated p. 82).
G. Grappe, Le Musée Rodin, Paris, 1947, no. 83, p. 142 (large bronze version illustrated).
A.E. Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, pp. 57-59 (large bronze version illustrated p. 56).
A.C. Tacha, 'The Prodigal Son, Some New Aspects of Rodin's Sculpture', in Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 1, Autumn 1964, pp. 23-39 (large bronze versions illustrated, p. 24, fig. 1; p. 26, fig. 2 & p. 31, fig. 7; limestone version illustrated p. 26, fig. 3).
R. Descharnes & J.-F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, Lausanne, 1967, p. 91 (large bronze version illustrated).
I. Jianou & C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, p. 92 (plaster version illustrated pl. 34).
A.T. Spear, "A Note on Rodin's Prodigal Son and on the Relationship of Rodin's Marbles and Bronzes", Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, 1969, vol. 27, pp. 24-36 (large bronze version illustrated p. 24, fig. 1).
A.E. Elsen, Rodin, London, 1974, pp. 57-59 (large bronze version illustrated p. 56).
J. Hawkins, Rodin Sculptures, London, 1975, no. 3, p. 18 (large bronze version illustrated pl. 5).
J. de Caso & P.B. Sanders, Rodin's Sculpture: A Critical Study of the Spreckels Collection, San Francisco, 1977, no. 24, pp. 159-163 (large bronze version illustrated, p. 161; details of another large bronze version illustrated, pp. 158 & 162).
J.A. Schmoll Eisenwerth, Rodin-Studien, Persönlichkeit, Werke, Wirkung, Bibliographie, Munich, 1983, pp. 288-289 (another cast illustrated p. 288).
A.-B. Fonsmark, Rodin: La collection du Brasseur Carl Jacobsen à la Glyptothèque, Copenhagen, 1988, no. 16, pp. 103-105 (limestone version illustrated p. 104).
Y. Le Pichon & C.-M. Lavrillier, Rodin: La porte de l'enfer, Lausanne, 1988, p. 183 (limestone version illustrated pp. 183 & 185).
M.L. Levkoff, Rodin in His Time: The Cantor Gifts to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1994, pp. 82-83, 205 & 223 (large bronze version illustrated p. 83).
A. Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, vol. I, Paris, 2007, no. S. 6693, pp. 319-322 (another cast illustrated p. 319; large bronze and limestone version illustrated p. 321).

Exhibited

Sydney, David Jones Art Gallery, An Exhibition of Fifty Bronzes by Auguste Rodin 1840-1917, September - October 1969, no. 12 (illustrated).

Special Notice

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Brought to you by

Michelle McMullan

mmcmullan@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2137

Lot Essay

This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2017-5641B.

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