Eve Eating the Apple

c. 1885

Auguste Rodin

Sculptor, French, 1840 - 1917

Molded in tan-colored terracotta, a person kneels and leans forward against an L-shaped stump-like form in this freestanding sculpture. The person’s head is to our left in this view, and the breasts are visible. She leans forward onto her forearms with her wrists crossed, so her hands are near her chin and closed mouth. She has short hair and full lips. The area around her eyes is loosely sculpted. One knee is bent and the other is mostly straight as if the foot were reaching toward the ground. The stump is especially loosely formed, and the sculpture sits on a wooden plank. The piece is photographed against a gray background.

Media Options

Skip thumbnail navigation
Back to thumbnail navigation
This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G1-C

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    terracotta

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson

  • Dimensions

    overall: 23 x 27 x 15.6 cm (9 1/16 x 10 5/8 x 6 1/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.5.7

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired possibly 1905 from the artist by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Simpson, New York;[1] gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] In her letter to the artist of 13 October 1905 (Musée Rodin Archives, Paris), Mrs. Simpson referred to works that Rodin had given her and that needed to be repaired and fired again. Eve Eating the Apple, which has a broken leg, may well have been one of these. There are no other references in the correspondence between Mrs. Simpson and Rodin about the Simpsons having received terracottas.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1946

  • Rodin: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 12, as Eve.

1965

  • Wax Sculptures by Degas, Sculptures and Drawings by Rodin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965-1966, no cat.

1974

  • Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.

1981

  • Rodin Rediscovered, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1981-1982, not in cat.

2017

  • Rodin, l’exposition du centenaire, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 2017, no. 109.

Bibliography

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 167.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 147, repro.

1976

  • Tancock, John. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Philadelphia, 1976: 264-265, 626.

  • Frel, Jiri, and Harvey West. Rodin: The Maryhill Collection. Exh. cat. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Washington State University, Pullman. Pullman, 1976: 34.

1992

  • Barbier, Nicolle. Rodin sculpteur: Oeuvres méconnues. Exh. cat. Musée Rodin, Paris, 1992: 41-51.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 201, repro.

1998

  • Porter, John R., and Yves Lacasse. Rodin à Québec. Quebec, 1998: 32-33.

2000

  • Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 348-351, color repro.

Inscriptions

on self-base below left leg: A. Rodin

Wikidata ID

Q63809244

You may be interested in

Loading Results