AUGUSTE RODIN (France, 1840 - 1917). "Le penseur". Bronze sculpture, lost wax and black patina

AUGUSTE RODIN (France, 1840 - 1917).
"Le penseur".
Sculpture in bronze, lost wax and black patina, copy G 11/25.
Fonderie Valsuani, 2003.
Signed "A. Rodin". With stamps "Airaindor cire pedue" and "Reproducior 1998".
Attached certificate of authenticity issued by Fonderies de Chevreuse.
Work referenced in "Rodin et le bronze", Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Paris, RMN; 2007, p.584
Size: 38 x 32 x 20 cm.
Rodin's figure of the Thinker belongs to the sculptor's most important work, the Gates of Hell, made between 1880 and 1917. They have as their theme the Inferno from Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy", and in fact the central figure, the Thinker himself, is a portrait of Dante, who is affected by what he is seeing (friezes with the sinful figures below him), and influenced by the divine forces that announce misfortune over his head (three shadows or triple portrait of Adam). Scholars also liken this figure to Rodin himself: a man terrified of the world he is living in, in which technology is advancing unstoppably, and he is right in the middle, where he must choose whether to remain faithful to tradition or throw himself into the void and break with all the canons established up to that point.
Rodin is nowadays considered "the first modern", since he was the figure who put an end to more than two centuries in search of mimesis in the three-dimensional arts. He began his training at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, and was particularly interested in anatomy, mastering it to the point of arousing the envy of the sculptors trained at the Academy of Fine Arts. In fact, the scandal surrounding his sculpture "The Age of Bronze" (1877) was famous. It was said that, because of its perfection, the moulds should have been taken directly from the model's body and not from a clay model made by the artist. Rodin emerged victorious from the dispute, as well as with a reputation that immediately placed him among the most important artists in Paris. Following this scandal, his sculpture was divided into two distinct lines. The first, which he called "alimentary", was the decorative sculpture on which he lived. The second, more popular and transgressive, is known as his pure work, transcendent in the history of Western art. His most important monuments and commissions, such as "The Burghers of Calais" and the "Monument to Balzac", which revolutionised sculpture in the public space, belong to the latter line of work. For Rodin, the artist was not to be a slave to the model, on the contrary: it was the artist who chose, with his own eye and sensibility, the object to be represented, and by means of his imagination was able to modify it to create a totally new image. Thus, proportions and forms are dictated by the demands of the sentiment to be captured, and not by the logical laws of reality. Rodin had studied anatomy not in order to be dominated by it, but to use the human body as a tool for the expression of human psychology and feelings. These ideas are embodied in his most important work, The Gates of Hell (1880-1917), for which the figure of "The Thinker" was originally conceived. The theme of these gates is the Inferno from Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy". The central figure, the Thinker, is a portrait of Dante, who is affected by what he is seeing (friezes with the sinful figures below him), and influenced by the divine forces that announce misfortune over his head (three shadows or triple portrait of Adam). Scholars also liken this figure to Rodin himself: a man terrified of the world in which he lives, in which technology is unstoppable, and he is right in the middle, where he must choose whether to remain faithful to tradition or to throw himself into the void and break with all the canons established up to that point. Rodin is represented in the most important museums in the world, such as the museum that bears his name in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Metropolitan in New York.