Live Auction 15979Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Lot 253 THE PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED FAMILY

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

L'un des Bourgeois de Calais: Main droite de Pierre et Jacques de Wissant, état définitif

Closed12 November 2018

Price Realised

USD 100,000

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Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
L'un des Bourgeois de Calais: Main droite de Pierre et Jacques de Wissant, état définitif
signed 'A. Rodin' (on the front of the wrist); inscribed with foundry mark, dated and inscribed '© by musée Rodin 1971 .Georges Rudier. .Fondeur.Paris.' (on the back of the wrist)
bronze with green and brown patina
Height: 13 ½ in. (34.3 cm.)
Conceived circa 1885-1886; this bronze version cast in 1971

Musée Rodin, Paris.
Contemporary Sculpture, Tokyo (acquired from the above, June 1973).
Private collection, Japan.
Tokoro Gallery, Tokyo.
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 22 June 2004, lot 232.
Acquired at the above sale by the family of the present owner.

Specialist note

This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2004-487B.

The hands of the Bourgeois de Calais were modeled as excessively large and expressive, in order to evoke the feeling of tragedy and resignation. This hand, belonging to Pierre or Jacques de Wissant, is anatomically perfect, in particular the cascade effect from the index finger to the pinky finger.