Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture

Rodin’s series of faunesses in various poses was conceived in conjunction with the development of the monumental Gates of Hell ( 1880 ) which was only cast posthumously just after Rodin’s death in 1917 . A close variant of our fauness can be seen on the far right of the tympanum, near the framing of the door, slightly separated from the frenetic and emotional compilation of figures depicted in the torment of Hell. A kneeling fauness, another variant of the subject, echoes her position on the far left of the scene. Rodin made many stand alone sculptures of figures that we find in The Gates . In fact it can be seen as containing a kind of retrospective of his individual figurative work, with The Thinker as the best known. There exist four variations of Standing

Fauness , each presented with notable differences made to the treatment of the rock. In addition, Rodin carved three marble sculptures of this subject. Of the present Simple Rock version, we know of 21 totals casts. Eight casts in bronze executed circa 1890 at the direction of Rodin by the foundries Léon Perzinka, Griffoul, and Alexis Rudier; The Musée Rodin executed at least 5 casts with Alexis Rudier between 1927 and 1945 ; 8 more were ordered from Georges Rudier between 1953 and 1963 . The present cast is one from this last 8 .