The Age of Bronze Auguste Rodin

At the start of his career, Rodin worked as a decorative sculptor, first in Paris and later in Brussels. In 1877, while still virtually unknown, Rodin showed a life-size plaster male figure in Brussels under the title The Vanquished One. The figure later became known as The Age of Bronze. The initial title was an allusion to France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, while the later version – expanding the original political reference – is rather an allusion to humanity awakening to consciousness. The statue caused shock and scandal when it was first shown. In fact, on seeing the unprecedented subtlety and sensuousness of the modelling, some critics even accused the artist of having made the statue using a life cast of his model.
Gábor Térey, director of the then National Picture Gallery, was drawn to the work of the now celebrated artist at the 1900 Paris Exposition. The plaster cast subsequently commissioned for the new Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest was given a bronze-coloured patina by special request. Besides the masterful finish and brilliant nuances of colour, the special casting technique employed makes this life-size figure a rarity among Rodin’s patinised plaster casts.

Ferenc Tóth