Portrait of Balzac
Modeled 1893, cast 1926–33
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
127.6 × 73.7 × 59.7 cm (50 1/4 × 29 × 23 1/2 in.)
Classification
large scale
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
6727
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In 1891 Auguste Rodin was commissioned by a literary society to produce a posthumous monument to the French writer Honoré de Balzac. Over the course of seven years, the sculptor created numerous studies for the composition, including this deliberately ungainly nude portrait. A departure from the idealized classical bodies typical of public statuary, this study stresses Balzac’s vitality and candor through its bold modeling, imposing torso, and confident stance. For the finished statue, in which ...
About the Artist
Auguste Rodin · 1840–1917
François Auguste René Rodin (1840-1917) stands as the founder of modern sculpture, transforming the art form from academic tradition into expressive modernism. Born into a working-class Parisian family, Rodin faced early rejection, failing three times to gain admission to the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. This setback forced him to work as a craftsman for nearly two decades, though his 1875 tr...