L'Âge d'arain (The Bronze Age), 1875-76

3D Model

by Auguste Rodin (1840–1917); Plaster; Height: 181 cm; Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Skulpturensammlung, 1738 (Abg.-ZV 1885)

This sculpture was met with fierce criticism at the Salon in Paris in 1877, the charge being made that it was a lifecast. Rodin passionately defended the integrity of his work, but it was only in 1880 — when several fellow sculptors submitted their expert opinion — that the artist was completely exculpated. Today this work is among Rodin’s most widely distributed sculptures: roughly 150 casts authorised by the artist are to be found in museums and collections all over the world. The version on display here is an early plaster cast from Dresden, which served as the basis for several casts made in the 1950s and 1960s. The traces of shellac are a reminder that even authenticated plasters were in danger of being misunderstood as replicas.

© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

3D-Digitisation, Virtual Exhibition, Post-Production: Studio Jester Blank