Bowman Sculpture - Sculptures by Auguste Rodin

Click image to enlarge

Éternelle Idole (Eternal Idol), Petit Modèle

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Signed A. Rodin and with repeat interior raised signature A. Rodin. Numbered 6/12
Inscribed Alexis Rudier Fondeur. Paris
Bronze with a rich brown patination
Height: 6 7/8" (17.4 cm)

Conceived in 1889. The Comité Rodin states that at least two bronzes cast during Rodin's lifetime. This cast is part one of less than 15 bronzes produced between 1927 and 1944. This specific bronze was cast in 1944.

Conceived in 1889, this example cast in 1944. The Comité Rodin states that two casts of the model in this size were produced during Rodin’s lifetime. At least thirteen casts were produced by the Alexis Rudier foundry between 1927 and 1945 – the present model is the earliest of these casts. One more cast was produced by Georges Rudier in 1958.

This is the original size of this model, conceived by Rodin in 1889. The first cast was delivered to the collector Antoni Roux in 1891.

Rodin originally conceived the sculpture whilst working on The Gates of Hell, incorporating both of the figures independently onto the right-hand doorway. Sometime before 1890 the figures were combined into the group we now know. Rodin made a small 17cm high bronze (the only lifetime cast of this model), which was delivered to the collector Antoni Roux in 1891. Roux later encouraged Rodin to produce a larger version of the model, which was carved in marble by Jean Escoula.

Eternal Idol is one of Rodin’s most powerful groups and its emotive force elicits a range of symbolic interpretations. The work is often seen as a depiction of tender adoration, the man’s hands clasped behind his back in a symbol of respectful abstinence. Conversely, others have suggested the man’s hands are not clasped in a respectful manner, but rather show that he is enslaved by the woman, unable to escape her power as she looks down pitifully upon him.

It is also impossible to ignore the similarities to Camille Claudel’s L’Abandon, which was conceived in 1888, one year before the present work. Claudel’s masterpiece uses a similar composition, but the two figures are shown in a loving embrace, rather than separated by the apparent gulf of emotional space in Eternal Idol. Perhaps the work echoed Rodin’s own feelings towards his long-term lover and mistress who he was soon to reject forever.

Jules Desbois, one of Rodin’s many assistants offers the following account of the works inception. ‘One day, from up on the scaffold where I was working on the Burghers of Calais, I noticed Rodin, who between some screens, was doing a nude sculpture, for which the model was a young woman, stretched out on a table. As the session was drawing to a close he bent over toward the woman and kissed her tenderly on the belly - a gesture of adoration of nature, which gave him much joy.’

Perhaps, like a number of Rodin’s greatest masterpieces, the true power of the model lies in its ambiguity. The novelist and poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who wrote a monograph on Rodin in 1903, argued that ‘a grandeur steeped in mystery emanates from this group. One dare not attribute a meaning to it. It has thousands… There is something like the atmosphere of Purgatory in this work. Heaven is near, but has not yet been reached; Hell is near, but has not yet been forgotten.’

Download Exhibition Catalogues for Auguste Rodin

0294831b411647f25793a9c412210680f4ac4a18

Nude

2016 Exhibition Catalogue

D52ed24c8802270f610494b3464c91bc5dced453

Rodin - In Private Hands

2014 Exhibition Catalogue

Works by Auguste Rodin

Le Frère et la Soeur (Brother and Si...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Giganti, Torse Masculin (Torso of Gig...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Étude pour le Secret (Study for the S...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Torse Masculin (Masculine Torso)

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Buste de Victor Hugo (Bust of Victor ...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Le Baiser (The Kiss), 3rd Reduction

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Faunesse Zoubaloff

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Faunesse á Genoux (Kneeling Faunesse)

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Éternelle Idole (Eternal Idol), Moyen...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Main 20 (Hand 20), Petit Modèle

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Nijinsky

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Buste de l'Âge d'Airain (Bust of the ...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Portrait de Danseuse Cambodgienne (Po...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Croquis d'après les Tombeaux des Médi...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Femme Accroupie de Face (Female Figur...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Femme Nue aux Bras Levés Posant sur u...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Couple Saphique (Sapphic Couple)

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Petite Figure Accroupie (Small Crouch...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Femme Nue a la Jambe Droite Soulevée ...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Mère et Enfant (Mother and Child)

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Éternelle Idole (Eternal Idol), Petit...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Le Baiser (The Kiss), 2nd Reduction

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Le Baiser (The Kiss), 4th Reduction

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

L'Éternel Printemps (Eternal Spring),...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

L'Éternel Printemps (Eternal Spring),...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Balzac, étude type c (buste) 3ème ver...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Faunesse Debout (Standing Faunesse), ...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Eve, Small Model - Model with a Squar...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

L'Éternel Printemps (Eternal Spring),...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Masque de l'Homme au Nez Cassé (Mask ...

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Maquette for the Burghers of Calais

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Bather with Sandals

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Le Penseur (The Thinker)

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840-1917)

Browse By Artist

Ambrosi, Gustinus

(Austrian, 1893-1975)

Ayrton, Michael

(British, 1921-1975)

Bayes, Gilbert

(British, 1872-1953)

Calvi, Pietro

(Italian, 1833-1884)

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste

(French, 1827-1875)

Carrier-Belleuse & Rodin

(French, 1824-1887 and 1840-1917)

Chadwick, Lynn

(British, 1914-2003)

Clarke, Geoffrey

(British, 1924-2014)

Jean-Baptiste Clesinger, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Clesinger, Jean-Baptiste

(French, 1814-1883)

Charles Henri Cordier, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Cordier, Charles Henri

(French, 1827-1905)

Dalou, Aimé-Jules

(French, 1838-1902)

Francis Derwent Wood, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Derwent Wood, Francis

(British, 1871-1926)

Drury, Alfred

(English, 1856-1944)

Epstein, Sir Jacob

(British, 1880-1959)

Pierre Félix Fix-Masseau, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Fix-Masseau, Pierre Félix

(French, 1869-1937)

Sir George Frampton, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Frampton, Sir George

(English, 1860-1926)

Louis Julien (Jules) Franceschi, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Franceschi, Louis Julien (Jules)

(French , 1825-1893)

George Frederick Watts & Thomas Wren

(British )

Sir Alfred Gilbert, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Gilbert, Sir Alfred

(British, 1854-1934)

Sir William Goscombe John, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Goscombe John, Sir William

(British, 1860-1952)

Gérôme, Jean-Léon

(French, 1824-1904)

Frederick James Halnon, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Halnon, Frederick James

(British, 1881-1958)

Hampton, Herbert

(British, 1862-1929)

Jones, Adrian

(English, 1846-1938)

Klimsch, Fritz

(German, 1870-1960)

Laing, Gerald

(UK, 1936-2011)

Frederic Lord Leighton, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Leighton, Frederic Lord

(English, 1830-1896)

Lucchesi, Andrea

(Italian, 1860-1924)

Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Mackennal, Sir Edgar Bertram

(Australian, 1863-1931)

Robert Tait McKenzie, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

McKenzie, Robert Tait

(Canadian, 1867-1938)

Mestrovic, Ivan

(Croatian, 1883-1962)

Minne, George

(Belgian, 1866-1941)

Moore, Henry

(English, 1898-1986)

Edward Onslow-Ford, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Onslow-Ford, Edward

(English, 1852-1901)

Paolozzi, Eduardo

(British, 1924-2005)

Picasso, Pablo

(Spanish, 1881-1973)

Plazzotta, Enzo

(Italian, 1921-1981)

Powers, Hiram

(American, 1805-1873)

Jean-Jacques Pradier, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Pradier, Jean-Jacques

(Swiss, 1790-1852)

Sir William Reid Dick, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Reid Dick, Sir William

(English, 1879-1961)

Ricketts, Charles

(English, 1866-1931)

Rodin, Auguste

(French, 1840-1917)

Rodin and Carrier-Belleuse

(French, (1840-1917 and 1824-1887))

Stanford, Eric

(British, Born 1932)

Stevens, Alfred

(English, 1818-1875)

Strasser, Arthur

(Austrian, 1854-1927)

Sir William Hamo Thornycroft, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Thornycroft, Sir William Hamo

(English, 1850-1925)

Thomas Thornycroft, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Thornycroft, Thomas

(British, 1815 â€“ 1885)

Toft, Albert

(English, 1862-1949)

Townroe, Reuben

(British, 1835-1911)

Van Wouw, Anton

(South African, 1862-1945)

Arthur George Walker, Bowman Sculpture Ltd

Walker, Arthur George

(British, 1861 - 1936)

Zadkine, Ossip

(Russian/French, 1890-1967)

About & Contact | Press & Publications | Significant Sales | Privacy Policy

Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm. Saturday by appointment only. Closed Sundays and public bank-holidays.

6 Duke Street St James's, London, SW1Y 6BN

+44 (0) 207 930 0277

gallery@bowmansculpture.com