After Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) - Lot 170

Lot n° 170
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
After Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) - Lot 170
After Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) Head of Pierre de Wissant, study type B, model with pedestal. Bronze with dark brown patina. Bears a signature "Rodin" at the back of the neck. No founder's mark. Height of the bust : 27.1 cm, width : 21.2 cm, depth : 23.4 cm. Height of the base : 12.9 x 14.2 x 14.2 cm Coquelin-cadet, a famous actor of the time, was used as a model to illustrate the overwhelmed face, the lowered eyes and the painful mouth of the character of Pierre de Wissant, one of the seven burghers of Calais to whom Rodin dedicated a monument, which he began to study in life size in 1886. The patina as well as the cast is as light as a Montagutelli. This work, made by the lost wax technique, was most probably cast by this foundry between 1912 and 1919, a period during which, in parallel with the orders placed by the sculptor in 1912, Montagutelli was accused of producing a great many proofs without authorization. The minutes of the lawsuit brought by the Rodin Museum against Montagutelli in 1919 report that "2 of the heads of the Burghers of Calais", including the Head of Pierre de Wissant, study B, are among the works produced outside the artist's control, considered from then on as a counterfeit from this foundry. Without a founder's stamp, and in the current state of knowledge, it remains a marvelous model and one of Rodin's most emblematic groups, the delicacy of an ancient casting of great quality. Bibliography: Elisabeth Lebon, Dictionnaire des fondeurs de bronze d'Art. France, 1890-1950, Perth, 2003, pp. 202-205 --- Antoinette le Normand-Romain, The bronzes of Rodin, catalog of works in the musée Rodin, vol. I, Paris, Musée Rodin, 2007, pp. 233-240.
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