Rodin_2011

of the character is very close to the other drawings showing the hands of the Cambodian dancers. Sumphady was known to have a capricious personality; her portrait expresses a temperament rife with contradictions as well as the grace achieved through a painfully strict upbringing that made her hands the sole instrument of expression. Placed in the center of the composition, enhanced with a black pencil, the hand is treated by Rodin as the main subject of this portrait. Here, the gouache of the face is applied as a delicate veil covering the lightly sulking pout of the princess and her melancholic look. The delicate yellow watercolor of the clothing is similar to that in a very beautiful portrait of the Japanese actress Hanako, dating from 1907 ( d4472 ). The similiar handling of black pencil in the clothing indicates that the two drawings may have been executed around the same time: Hanako, facing forward with a concentrated attitude and hands closed, Sumphady in three-quarter pose with her chin resting on the left hand, with a condescending expression of boredom in front of the strange bearded old man who draws her. The given origin of this drawing, the collection of Odilon Roche, one of the most famous forgers of Rodin, is quite surprising. If this is confirmed, it would be the only authentic Rodin drawing that was owned by Roche.

1. E. Chase Geissbuhler, Rodin: Later drawings, with interpretations by Antoine Bourdelle, Beacon Press, Boston, 19 6 3 , p. 41