Frère et Soeur (Brother and Sister)

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Title/s

Frère et Soeur

Translated title

Brother and Sister

Maker/s

Rodin, Auguste (sculptor) [ULAN info: French artist, 1840-1917]

Category

sculpture

Name

figure group

Description

Bronze, cast, with overall green patina. Nude girl seated, with a baby boy upon her right knee. She faces half right, as does the boy, and she holds him with her right hand. Her left hand supports her weight on the base.

Production Notes

The figure of the girl was inspired by Camille Claudel's Young Girl with a sheaf of Corn, which enables the group to have been conceived after 1887. According to the donor, this was the first cast which he had seen in Rodin's studio. See notes.

Production Place

Colmar, Paris (sculptor) (place)

France, (sculptor) (country)

French (sculptor) (nationality)

Technique Description

bronze, cast and patinated green

Dimensions

height: (whole): 38.8 cm

Period

late 19th Century

Date

after 1890 to 1897

Provenance

bequeathed: Knowles, Guy John Fenton 1959 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

Given to the testator by Rodin

Inscriptions/Marks

1. signature
   Content: A. Rodin
   

Documentation

1. Story, Sommerville (1939) Rodin, London: Phaidon Press [page: p. 148]
   [comments: Publ. p. 148, pl. 88, no. 88]
2. (1960) Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Annual Report for the Year ending 31 December 1959, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press
   [comments: Publ. Plate IV]
3. Story, Sommerville (1939) Rodin, London: Phaidon Press
   [comments: Publ. No. 60]
4. Caso, Jacques de (1977) Rodin's Sculpture, a Critical Study of the Spreckels Collection, San Francisco [page: p. 103]
   [comments: Publ. The cataloguer notes that the older child is related to Rodin's Etude de Jeune Femme Assise (Cybele) for which the popular model Mme Abruzzezzi had posed.]
5. (1989 - 90) Treasures from the Fitzwilliam: ''The Increase of Learning and other great Objects of that Noble Foundation'', Cambridge (Cambs.) [page: p. 131]
   [comments: Publ. p. 131, Cat. no. 132]
6. Penny, Nicholas (1993) Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 1540 to the present day, Oxford: Clarendon Press [page: p. 74]
   [comments: Publ. Mentioned, Vol. II, p. 74]
7. (2005) Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum, London: Scala [page: 169]
   [comments: Publ. Illustrated in colour with short text]
8. Waddington, J.J. (1916) Trifles in Sculpture, London
   [comments: Cf. For another cast of Frère et Soeur by Rodin, from the Collection of J.P. Heseltine, see no. 29, called 'Young Girl Nursing a Child'. Heseltine claims it to be the original of this group. He states 'Rodin gave it to Legros, in his early days, in exchange for a bronze mask by Legros himself. Legros sold it to A.W. Thibaucleau, from whom I bought it.']
9. (1977-84) Foreign Catalogue, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, Merseyside: Merseyside County Council
   [comments: Cf. Another cast, inv. no. WAG 3177]
10. Le Normand Romain, Antoinette (2007) The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, Colmar, Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux [page: 376-7]
    [comments: Cf. Vol. I, p. 376 a sand-cast example of 1922 in the Musée Rodin. Other bronzes are listed including the Fitzwilliam's.]
11. Sotheby's (1965) Sotheby's Sale Catalogue, 1st December 1965, London: Sotheby's 1 December 1965)
    [comments: Cf. For a marble version see, lot 59]
12. Sotheby's (1976) Sotheby's Sale Catalogue, 7th April 1976, London: Sotheby's 7th April 1976)
    [comments: Cf. For a green patinated version see, lot 59A]
13. Christie's (1981) Christie's Sale Catalogue, 29th June 1981, London: Christie's 29 June 1981)
    [comments: Cf. Another, lot 9]
14. Sotheby's (1985) Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, Part II, 4th December 1985, London: Sotheby's 4th December 1985)
    [comments: Cf. Another, lot 117 (Estimate £28-32,000) 15 ¼" 38.4 cm high. Not patinated green.]
15. Sotheby's (1986) Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture Part II, 25th June 1986, London: Sotheby's 25th June 1986)
    [comments: Cf. Another, lot 137 (Estimate £20-25,000)]
16. Christie's (1989) Impressionists and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, 27th November 1989, London: Christie's [page: pp. 14-5] 27th November 1989)
    [comments: Cf. A marble version 43 cm high, pp.14-5, lot 3 (Estimate £150,000-180,000). Text mentions the one bronze made by Rodin, which was presumably the Fitzwilliam Museum's.]
17. Sotheby's (1994) Impressionist and Modern Art and Ceramics, 26th October 1994, London [page: p. 15] 26th October 1994)
    [comments: Cf. A bronze 38 cm high, p. 15, lot 4; estimated £30,000-40,000; fetched £36,700.]
18. Sotheby's (1999) Impressionist and Modern Art, Part 1, 11th May 1999, New York [page: pp. 28-9] 11th May 1999)
    [comments: Cf. A marble group 40.5 cm high, after 1900, pp. 28-9, lot 109.]
19. Sotheby's (1999) Impressionist and Modern Art, Part II, 12th May 1999, New York [page: pp. 38-9] 12th May 1999)
    [comments: Cf. A plaster 39.1 cm high, pp. 38-9, lot 229]
20. Le Blay, Jérôme (2005) Auguste Rodin, Sculpture Drawings & Photographs, London: Nevill Keating Tollemache [page: 30-31] 6-30 June 2005)
    [comments: Cf. A bronze, 39 cm high, cast c.1920-30 by Alexis Rudier. Provenance André Schoeller, Paris before 1956; Robert Bowmn, London, Private collection USA.]
21. Royal Academy of Arts (2006) Rodin, London: Royal Academy of Arts [page: 243]
    [comments: Cf. p. 243, no. 153, an example 38.8 cm high in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1927-49.]

Other Notes

Accession Number

M.2-1959 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 13626; Input Date: 2000-10-03 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)