Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was a dominate figure in the world
of sculpture throughout his career, although his influence reaches far beyond
his years and continues today. The importance of Rodin's work cannot be
overstated. Indeed, with its vitality and animation his pieces are
considered to have shaped the future of sculpture and defined the modern age.
Rodin's figures were inspired by classical Greek and Renaissance art, albeit he
pared back narrative references to classical gods and muses by sculpting naturalistic
figures whose forms reflected distinctly modern representations of love, thought
and physicality. Rodin was also deeply influenced by the literary works of the
Italian poet, writer, and philosopher Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), whose epic
poem the Divine Comedy (c. 1320) gave rise to some of Rodin's
most famous creations - The Kiss (1882); The Thinker (1904);
and The Gates of Hell (c. 1880-1917).

His monumental masterpiece The Gates of Hell, for instance,
comprised over two hundred and twenty five figures and groups modelled as
players for this arresting construction. The Gates of Hell were initially
commissioned for the new Museum of Design in Paris, but even after the plans
were abandoned Rodin continued to develop figures piecemeal over a period of
thirty-seven years. The artist would never see the work completed in bronze,
with the process finished posthumously, but the figures Rodin formed for his
gates were a vital source of inspiration for the rest of his career.

Rodin’s contemporary success did not come without controversy.
One figure, in particular, scandalised the art world, with some critics suspicious
of Rodin’s methods because his breakout piece was so lifelike. The Age of
Bronze (1876) depicted a moment of awakening – to suffering or to joy – and
was sculpted over the course of eighteen months. However, Rodin faced accusations
of fraud and he was left with little choice but to vigorously deny the charges
of casting from a living model, which he was only able to disprove due to the
photographic records he kept from his work in the studio. Such questions of
authenticity, naturally, are testament to what has been described as Rodin’s
sublime talent.

Likewise, The Kiss, which was originally conceived as
part of The Gates of Hell but was later completed as an independent
piece, faced considerable critical censure. For conservative critics, Rodin’s entwined
lovers were viewed as problematic because they were seen to depict uncontrolled
carnal desire, illicit in its nature and explicit in sexual infatuation – based
as it was on the characters of Paulo and Francesca from the Divine Comedy,
who were punished for their transgressions and doomed to wander eternally
through the corridors of Hell. The sculpture was censored on several ocassions in exhibitions, which included secluding it for viewing in a separate room and, in one instance, excluding it from view altogether. In contrast to his detractors, Rodin understood The
Kiss to represent the height of happiness and sensuality, and its status
today as a cultural icon is such that it remains one of his most recognised and
reproduced sculptures alongside The Thinker. Despite such early
critical disapproval, Rodin achieved a level of fame and international
popularity that was unprecedented for a sculptor.

The Musée Rodin summarised his achievements and contributions to art and sculpture when they observed that

The 19th century saw the rejection of romanticism and the introduction of realism. This increase in popularity was mainly due to founding members of the movement in every field of innovation injecting the slowly modernising world with their craft. Among these was Honoré de Balzac, a leading founder of realism in European literature. Rodin adopted this increasingly popular style in his sculptures, modelling the human body with naturalism, focusing keenly on physicality, and using the materials to suggest emotion.

The final monument of Honoré de Balzac took Rodin seven years to complete, he grew entirely infatuated with Balzac, creating over 50 sketches and clay studies in preparation. Although Rodin was meticulous in his research of Balzac’s appearance, the final sculpture was more of an embodiment of his character, rather than a model of his physical form. Rodin would explain this stating, ‘I think of his intense labour, of the difficulty of his life, of his incessant battles and of his great courage. I would express all that’.

Rodin’s sculpture both reflects and rejects antiquity. The bust is typical of classicism; however it has been modernised by Rodin with the addition of Balzac’s stance and crossed arms. An inquisitive gaze rests on his face, his head turned and tilted up at a slight angle. The tactility of the clay has not only been left but emphasised, Rodin likely used cloth to indent texture onto the surface of the clay.

This depiction of Balzac was rejected by Rodin's audience and the Society of People of Letters who had originally commissioned the piece. They viewed the portrait as a crude portrayal and criticised the lack of physical resemblance to Balzac, not understanding or perhaps appreciating that the sculpture was a personification of his genius and not a replication of his appearance.

On 15th February 1918, the owner of the Balzac large model plaster, Dr Joseph Charles Mardrus, gave permission to Gustave Danthon to cast a bronze version of this plaster. Léonce Bénédite, the curator of the Rodin Museum at the time, approved the realisation of this edition. There are only five known Alexis Rudier casts of Balzac large model, with each cast varying slightly.