Despair as seen by Rodin
Tuesday, February 4th 2025
by Auguste Rodin
The Despair, ca. 1892-93
Marble.
Signed "A.Rodin" on the bottom.
Model created circa 1890, sculpted between 1892 and 1893.
Height: 28,5 cm. Width: 5 cm. Depth: 25 cm.
Provenance:
- Auguste Rodin, Paris
- possibly Mr. Alexandre Blanc, Paris via Léopold Blondin, October 1892
- possibly the “Alexandre Blanc collection” auction, Lair-Dubreuil Auction House, Paris-Galerie Georges Petit, April 3, 1906 lot #179 (4,100 F)
- possibly Mr. Eugène Finschhof, Paris (art dealer, 1853-1926) (bought at abovementioned auction)
- Me Paul Chevallier, Paris and his descendance
- private collection, France.
The buyer will receive a notice of inclusion into the Catalogue Critique de l'Œuvre Sculpté d'Auguste Rodin, currently in preparation at Galerie Brame & Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay. The artwork will be registered under #2025-7373B.
More examples of marble sculptures:
- Auguste Rodin, The Despair, before 1900, marble, Height 32.7 cm, formerly in The Harriet Hallowell Collection, Sotheby's auction, New York, May 18, 1990
- Auguste Rodin, The Despair, with rectangle bottom, marble, Height 29 Width 18 cm, The Bürhle Collection, Zurich
- Auguste Rodin, The Despair, marble, Height 28 Width 14 Depth 24 cm, The Claude Roger-Marx Collection
- Auguste Rodin, The Despair, model circa 1890, sculpted ca. 1906, marble, signed “A. RODIN”, Height 29.2 Width 25.4 Depth 11.1 cm, Philadelphia, Museum of Art, inv. cat. #1149.
Related work:
- Auguste Rodin, The Despair, model 1887-1890, carved in 1914, limestone, Height 93.9 Width 34.2 Depth 78.7 cm, Stanford, The Cantor Art Collection, inv. #1974.86.
Related literature:
- Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, “Rodin la Porte de l'Enfer”, Paris, Musée Rodin, 2002, pp. 57-58.
- Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, “Les bronzes de Rodin, catalogue des œuvres au musée Rodin”, Paris, musée Rodin, RMN, 2007, vol. I, pp. 305-310.
- Aline Magnien, Paul-Louis Rinuy, Véronique Mattiussi, et al, Rodin: la chair, le marbre, exhibition catalog, Paris, musée Rodin, June 8, 2012-March 3, 2013, Paris, musée Rodin, Hazan, 2012, copy by Claude Roger Marx listed and illustrated under cat. 16, p.144.
Estimate: 500,000 ~ 700,000€
