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Study for France or Saint George (Étude pour la France, ou Saint Georges)

European Art

Rodin used the features of his assistant and lover, the sculptor Camille Claudel, for this allegorical personification of France despite the fact that their relationship had ended at least ten years earlier.

Claudel met Rodin during the early 1880s, while he was working on The Gates of Hell. She assisted him with this and other projects, and her features can be recognized in many of his sculptures. She was a gifted artist in her own right but grew increasingly fearful that Rodin was preventing her from receiving commissions and professional recognition. She became reclusive, and in 1913 her family committed her to a mental asylum, abruptly ending her artistic career. She died in the asylum in 1943.
MEDIUM Bronze
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES ca. 1903, cast 1982
    DIMENSIONS 20 x 17 3/4 x 13 7/8 in. (50.8 x 45.1 x 35.2 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS Back, lower edge, proper left: "E. GODARD FONDR" Back, lower edge, proper right: "© BY MUSÉE RODIN 1982"
    SIGNATURE Proper left shoulder: "Rodin"
    INSCRIPTIONS Proper left shoulder: "No I/III"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 84.75.7
    CREDIT LINE Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Study for France or Saint George (Étude pour la France, ou Saint Georges), ca. 1903, cast 1982. Bronze, 20 x 17 3/4 x 13 7/8 in. (50.8 x 45.1 x 35.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 84.75.7. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.75.7_bw.jpg)
    EDITION Edition: I/III/12
    IMAGE overall, 84.75.7_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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