Rodin regularly makes headlines in the Paris salerooms too, whenever his work comes up for auction.
Last month Fraysse et Associés sold a 2ft 1in (64cm) high bronze figural group for €1.55m (£1.35m) in a March 22 auction at Drouot.
Titled l’Éternel Printemps, the model is one of the groups originally conceived for his major sculptural project The Gates of Hell. Originally conceived around 1884, this particular patinated bronze proof is a first state, and one of around ten variant examples cast by the Griffoul et Lorge foundry in Paris.
It was signed by the sculptor to right hand side of the rock on which the couple stand and also bears the stamp of the foundry. The Rodin committee have suggested that the bronze was probably cast between 1887 and 1894. It had been in a private collection, before that, around 1971, was at the Galerie Bielle in Compiègne and prior to that with a M. Dufourny in Paris.
The Auguste Rodin marble sculpture of Andromeda consigned from the family who have owned it for 130 years which is coming up for sale at Artcurial on May 30.
Next month on May 30 French auction house Artcurial will be offering a rare rediscovered Rodin marble that has remained in the same family since it was given to them by the sculptor in the 1880s.
Andromeda, a marble of a young woman crouched on a rock, is a characteristic sensual working of a mythological subject by Rodin. The marble, measuring 11in x 12¼ x 7¼in (28 x 31 18.5cm), which is signed and dated 1887, was given by Rodin to a friend and patron, the Chilean diplomat Carlos Lynch de Morla.
In 1888, while posted in Paris, the diplomat had asked Rodin to create a portrait of his young wife Luisa. The resultant bust, which was shown at the Salon National des Beaux Arts that year, was so admired that the state asked to acquire it for their own collections.
Carlos Lynch de Morla agreed to give his commission to the French state (it is now in the Musée d’Orsay) and in recompense Rodin gave him the Andromeda sculpture. It has remained with his family ever since, and was rediscovered by the auctioneers’ representatives on valuation.
One of five examples known to exist, three of which are in museums, it is thought to be second to be produced. Artcurial are expecting a price in the region of €800,000- €1.2m when it comes up for sale next month. Prior to that the sculpture is going on a tour to Brussels, Vienna and Milan.
