Eve Museum Statue from Gates of Hell RO19 Parastone

Eve Statue by Auguste Rodin (1881)
In between Romanticism and Impressionism this self-willed Frenchman sculptor, Auguste Rodin, created some of the most famous pieces known in the art of sculpting. Rodin was commissioned to design the main doors for the new museum of the Decorative Arts. It was agreed that the bronze doors would feature his reliefs based on Dante's Divine Comedy. These Gates of Hell would be flanked by two life-sized figures of Adam and Eve. Rodin created multiple studies for Eve, but none of these were used to accompany the gates. Here Eve is illustrated as standing and shielding her face and her torso in shame. The model on which the sculpture was based was the Italian Madame Abruzzezzi. She proved to be pregnant when she posed and when this became visible Rodin was furious. From then on he banned his assistants from having intimate relations with the models at his studio.

Statue replica of Eve Standing is part of the highly collectible museum reproduction series by Parastone Mouseion 3D, a well known European manufacturer from the Netherlands. Each statue from their collection is carefully recreated after the original as a small scale copy.

Material: Collectible quality, resin with a bronze finish.
Included: Full color card about artist and artwork in four languages.
Dimensions: 7.75"H x 2.5"W x 2.5"D.

About Auguste Rodin, French Sculptor (1840-1917)
For a long time the life of the sculptor Rodin was marked by the mixed reactions his work provoked with the audience. The lack of understanding for Rodin's work was partly due to the original character of his art. He felt little for the strict formats of Romanticism and neither did he want to identify himself with the neutrality of the Impressionists.

Rodin's work is characterized by a passion for the human body and he considered himself incapable of any creativity if he did not have a living model in front of him. He said: In everything I follow nature and I never pretend I am able to control her. My only ambition is to be subservient and faithful to her. Questions about his often controversial, erotic works were answered with the remark: Art is actually nothing more than a manifestation of lust, which only arises from the potency to love.

Rodin's life upheld this belief with a vast succession of lovers having passed his artistic eye. Many affairs were brief, but one of them turned out to be of enormous value to his later work, Camille Claudel. This self-willed, fierce woman, who was a very talented sculptor herself, inspired him to create his most famous and admired sculptures. The affair continued for a long time, although Camille had to put up with Rodin's numerous escapades and his loyal companion Rose Beuret. Eventually, the affair ended and Camille suffered the dramatic consequences of this split. She became isolated and confused and in the end she was forced by her family to have herself admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Towards the end of his life, Rodin could look back upon a successful artistic career. He had given his works to the French government, which had in turn promised to found a museum in his name. Rodin was buried with full honors and the words his father had once spoken turned out to be prophetic: The day will come that people will say about you, what they say about all truly great men: the artist Auguste Rodin is dead, but he lives on for our descendants, for the future.