The Lovers

model mid 1880s, cast after 1900

Auguste Rodin

Sculptor, French, 1840 - 1917

Auguste Rodin

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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

    plaster

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson

  • Dimensions

    overall: 11.1 x 7.5 cm (4 3/8 x 2 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1942.5.23

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 a letter to Rodin written on 31 October 1905 (Musée Rodin Archives, Paris), just after the Simpson's return from Paris, Kate Simpson mentioned small, fragile works which she left with a craftsman to have repaired. Presumably these were recent gifts and perhaps this small relief was among them.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1946

  • Rodin: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 17, as Man and Woman.

1965

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

1981

  • Rodin Rediscovered, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1981-1982, no. 79, as Embracing Couple.

Bibliography

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 169, as Study for "The Lovers," Gates of Hell.

1967

  • Spear, Athena Tacha. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1967: 63, 99-100.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 148, repro., as Study for "The Lovers," Gates of Hell.

1976

  • Frel, Jiri, and Harvey West. Rodin: The Maryhill Collection. Exh. cat. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Washington State University, Pullman. Pullman, 1976: 28-29.

  • Tancock, John. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Philadelphia, 1976: 228-230.

1977

  • de Caso, Jacques, and Patricia B. Sanders. Rodin's Sculpture: A Critical Study of the Spreckels Collection. San Francisco, 1977: 178-183.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 204, repro.

1995

  • Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. Le Baiser de Rodin. Exh. cat. Musée Rodin, Paris, 1995: 15-16, 66-67.

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: 335, 337-338, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q63809285

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