![]() ![]() Rodin was inspired by the intimate relationship between the two female figures and the way they appear to merge into one another. Like the first commissioned version of “The Kiss”, these two goddesses from the east pediment of the Parthenon were carved from a single block of stone. Goddesses in diaphanous drapery, from the east pediment of the Parthenon (c. Plaster, cast from first marble version, of 1888–98 © Musée Rodin In this respect, his approach was similar to Pheidias’s, who is attributed with designing the Elgin Marbles, though it is thought the execution was carried out by his workshop. Marble versions were then delegated to a specialist stone carver. He sculpted first in clay, before casting in bronze or plaster. This is an important plaster version of the sculpture, which Rodin exhibited and kept throughout his life, and from which subsequent copies were made. However, the work soon lost its narrative significance, and has since become a universal symbol of sexual desire. The nakedness of the two figures, which accentuates their exposure and vulnerability, combined with the physicality of their hold on each other, scandalised audiences when the sculpture was first shown. Two lovers, Paolo and Francesca, are caught up in the passion of their first kiss, but will imminently be discovered by Gianciotto, Francesca’s husband and Paolo’s brother, who then kills them both. ![]() Rodin originally intended “The Kiss” to depict an episode from Dante’s “The Divine Comedy”. “These are the damaged statues, found in the ruins,” he said, “and they are no less masterpieces for being incomplete.” For him, the fragment could embody truth. Most of all, he was inspired by their broken, dislocated quality. Expressive of emotion and movement they offered valuable lessons for modern art. But Rodin saw in them not an unattainable ideal, but a sincere naturalism. Though they were venerated as the highest achievement of Greek art, few artists in Rodin’s day had dared contend with the marbles. 480 – 430 BC) the most celebrated sculptor of the Athenian Golden Age. Whereas most ancient Greek sculpture was only known through later Roman copies, this was the real deal, designed by Pheidias (c. Part of the appeal of the Elgin Marbles was their authenticity. A hallmark of his art was the use of different finishes in the same work, so that the figure appears to emerge from the unsculpted material as though it is in the process of being created. His works were monumental and emphatic in their physicality he rejected the polished decorum of contemporary neoclassicism in his pursuit of a coarse naturalism. By the early years of the 20th century he had achieved international fame with his radically innovative sculpture. In his art Rodin was anything but understated. Cast-offs Rodin in his Museum of Antiquities at Meudon on the outskirts of Paris, about 1910.
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