Balzac, Second Study for Nude F (Balzac, deuxième étude pour le Nu F)
European Art
This is likely one of the final nude studies for the figure beneath the drapery in the completed Balzac monument. Instead of an aging, dissipated body, which the commission had criticized, Rodin turned to a more athletic and muscular figure. That he sought to portray a very specific conception of genius is evident in his decision to make the author’s right hand grip his erect penis, explicitly equating male sexual virility with artistic creativity. Balzac surely would have agreed: his wife recalled a letter in which he had once explained that he prepared himself to write his novels by “masturbating his brain.”
CAST BY
Georges Rudier Fondeur, Paris
MEDIUM
Bronze
DATES
1896; cast 1979
DIMENSIONS
37 x 16 x 15 1/2 in. (94 x 40.6 x 39.4 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
Base: ".Georges Rudier./.Fondeur-Paris."
SIGNATURE
Base: "A. Rodin"
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
84.77.10
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Balzac, Second Study for Nude F (Balzac, deuxième étude pour le Nu F), 1896; cast 1979. Bronze, 37 x 16 x 15 1/2 in. (94 x 40.6 x 39.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, 84.77.10. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.77.10_bw.jpg)
EDITION
Edition: 7/12
IMAGE
overall, 84.77.10_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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