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The Age of Bronze
Auguste Rodin, 1875–76
The Age of Bronze, made in 1875 and 1876, is Rodin's earliest surviving life-size sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art calls it an enigmatic image of a man awakening to a new consciousness. The figure originally held a spear. By removing it, Rodin took away the narrative clues and left a study of the body and of its inner state.
The figure was so realistic that critics falsely accused Rodin of casting it from a living model. That charge angered him, and it shows how far his work was from the stiff academic nudes of the day.
This cast came to the museum through Ralph King, a trustee, who commissioned it from Rodin in 1916. Rodin supervised the casting himself and finished it with a favourite deep reddish patina that he called crushed grape. It stands about 1.8 metres tall.
From the museum record
| Artist | Auguste Rodin |
|---|---|
| Date | 1875–76 |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Size | 182.2 x 66.4 x 47 cm |
| Museum | The Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Credit line | Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King |
| Accession number | 1918.328 |
| Licence | Open Access (CC0) |
Source: The Cleveland Museum of Art collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
