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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Galerie Brame and Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2003NV371B.
The previous owner of this sculpture was Jules Mastbaum (1872-1926), a major figure in the early American film industry and one of Philadelphia's leading philanthropists. In 1922, as he approached his fiftieth year, he commissioned Albert Rosenthal to purchase works of art on his behalf in Europe. During one of his own trips to Paris, Mr. Mastbaum acquired his first small bronze sculpture by Rodin, a purchase that triggered a lasting passion for works of this great sculptor, who had died less than six years before. Mr. Mastbaum quickly transformed his private interest into a public project, and conceived the idea of establishing a museum in Philadelphia solely devoted to the works of Rodin, thus establishing an American counterpart to the Musée Rodin in Paris.
From 1924 to 1926, Mr. Mastbaum acquired casts of all the works in the Musée Rodin collection. He also was instrumental in casting the first bronze versions of the La porte de l'Enfer, which had existed only in a plaster version when the sculptor died. The first cast went to the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia and the second one went to the Musée Rodin in Paris.
The previous owner of this sculpture was Jules Mastbaum (1872-1926), a major figure in the early American film industry and one of Philadelphia's leading philanthropists. In 1922, as he approached his fiftieth year, he commissioned Albert Rosenthal to purchase works of art on his behalf in Europe. During one of his own trips to Paris, Mr. Mastbaum acquired his first small bronze sculpture by Rodin, a purchase that triggered a lasting passion for works of this great sculptor, who had died less than six years before. Mr. Mastbaum quickly transformed his private interest into a public project, and conceived the idea of establishing a museum in Philadelphia solely devoted to the works of Rodin, thus establishing an American counterpart to the Musée Rodin in Paris.
From 1924 to 1926, Mr. Mastbaum acquired casts of all the works in the Musée Rodin collection. He also was instrumental in casting the first bronze versions of the La porte de l'Enfer, which had existed only in a plaster version when the sculptor died. The first cast went to the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia and the second one went to the Musée Rodin in Paris.