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Bacchantes Embracing, Small Model (Bacchantes s'enlaçant, petit modèle)

European Art

Rodin employed skilled assistants to make reductions or enlargements of his works using a machine invented in 1836 by the engineer Achille Collas. The model to be recreated in a new size would be placed on a turntable. On a second turntable, connected to the first, would be a clay or plaster “blank,” roughly shaped to resemble the work being resized but on an enlarged or reduced scale. The machine kept the model and the blank in the same orientation while the technician used a tracing needle linked to a sharp cutting instrument (or stylus) to transfer a succession of profiles from the model onto the blank. Gradually the blank was worked so that it became a larger or smaller duplicate of the model.

This process allowed Rodin to offer popular works at a variety of prices.
CAST BY Aage Fersing
MEDIUM Bronze
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES possibly before 1896; cast after 1967
    DIMENSIONS 6 5/8 x 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (16.8 x 15.9 x 10.8 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS Lower edge near signature: "CIRE PERDUE AF"
    SIGNATURE Base, in back of figure with raised knee: "Rodin"
    INSCRIPTIONS Interior, lower edge: "4/12"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 84.77.3
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917). Bacchantes Embracing, Small Model (Bacchantes s'enlaçant, petit modèle), possibly before 1896; cast after 1967. Bronze, 6 5/8 x 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (16.8 x 15.9 x 10.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, 84.77.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.77.3_bw_SL3.jpg)
    EDITION Edition: 4/12
    IMAGE overall, 84.77.3_bw_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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