Mignon
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Mignon is the first of Rodin’s portraits of Rose Beuret, a seamstress he met in 1864 who became his studio helper, the mother of his son Auguste-Eugène, and his lifelong companion—despite the artist’s inability to remain faithful to her. They married only in 1917, the year they both died, she of pneumonia, and he several months later from complications of a stroke.
The title of this lively and informal portrait may refer to an 1866 opéra comique of the same name by Ambroise Thomas, based on a character in Goethe’s 1796 novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.
Caption
Auguste Rodin French, 1840–1917. Mignon, 1870; cast 1966. Bronze, 16 1/4 x 11 7/8 x 10 1/8in. (41.3 x 30.2 x 25.7cm) mount (dimensions as installed): 22 1/2 × 12 × 11 3/4 in. (57.2 × 30.5 × 29.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 85.173.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 85.173.2_bw_SL3.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Mignon
Date
1870; cast 1966
Geography
Place made: France
Medium
Bronze
Classification
Dimensions
16 1/4 x 11 7/8 x 10 1/8in. (41.3 x 30.2 x 25.7cm) mount (dimensions as installed): 22 1/2 × 12 × 11 3/4 in. (57.2 × 30.5 × 29.8 cm)
Signatures
Proper left shoulder: "A. Rodin" Interior, lower front edge, raised plate: "A. Rodin"
Markings
Back, proper right shoulder: ".Georges Rudier./Fondeur. Paris." Back, proper left shoulder, lower edge: "© by Musée Rodin 1966"
Credit Line
Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Accession Number
85.173.2
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Who is she?
Mignon is the first portrait that Rodin created of his long-time partner and eventual wife, Rose Beuret. He met her in 1864, six years before this work was created, when she was still a seamstress. Beuret posed for Rodin many times. You can see the likeness of Rodin and Beuret's son, Auguste Beuret, very likely used on the burgher Andrieu d'Andres.Where can other busts or statues by Rodin of his companion, Rose Beuret, be found? This is such a striking depiction of the woman he loved.
There is a plaster bust of Rose Beuret at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Did Rodin ever sculpt his son, Auguste-Eugene?
I cannot find any evidence that he sculpted his son, but I wouldn't be surprised to know he did.Thank you!
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