Rodin_2011

14. Young Mother in the Grotto ( Jeune Mère à la Grotte )

Conceived c. 1885 , this cast between 1888 and 189 6 Bronze Height 14 7 ⁄ 8 inches ( 37 . 8 cm) Signed Foundry: Griffoul/Lorge

provenance Possibly Albéric Magnard, Paris ( 18 6 5 – 1914 );thence by descent; Stephen Higgins, Paris; T. Rogers & Co., London (acquired from the above in 19 6 9 ); sale, Sotheby’s London, July 2 , 19 6 9 , lot 39 ; B. Gerald Cantor, Beverly Hills (in 1974 ); M. Gerald Demain, Florida (given as a gift from the above in 1974 ); sale, Christie’s New York, May 5 , 2004 , lot 205 ; Private Collection. literature John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin: The Collection of the Rodin Museum, Philadelphia , Philadelphia, 197 6, no. 17 ; Ruth Butler, et. al., European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century: The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue , Washington, D.C. and New York, 2001 , pp. 351 – 54 ; Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Rodin et le bronze , Vo. II, Paris, 2007 , pp. 4 6 9 – 71 . (this work) Jérôme Le Blay, Catalogue critique de l’oeuvre sculpté d’Auguste Rodin (in preparation) Paris, no. 2004 - 527 B. Young Mother in the Grotto is the first of three small sculptural groups conceived in the 1880 s on the subject of maternal love between a young woman and an infant. The first two, Young Mother in the Grotto and Young Mother are identical, except that Young Mother is a freestanding group, whereas Young Mother in the Grotto shows the figures emerging in high relief from an embracing, cave-like “ground”. In the third work, Fleeting Love , wings are added to the child, who no longer sits on the woman’s knees, but instead lies across her lap. As discussed in the recent catalogue of bronzes at the Musée Rodin, Young Mother in the Grotto is the first of these three to receive public mention. Rodin showed the work, under the title Woman and Love , at an exhibition held at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in February–March 188 6. It was extremely well-received called “lively” “charming” and “exquisite” by critics, and continued to be a tremendously successful group. As early as February 6, 188 6, a model for Young Mother in the Grotto was among several sculptures for which Rodin received an initial payment from the collector Maurice Fenaille. The marble that was eventually carved for Fenaille was completed and paid for in 1889 . A photograph by William Elborne from 1887 shows that Rodin had placed Young Mother in the Grotto at the top of the left pilaster of The Gates of Hell . He removed the group from the gates, however, probably around 1888 , and replaced it with Fallen Caryatid with Stone . As noted in the Musée Rodin catalogue, Young Mother in the Grotto ’s “image of tranquil happiness