Brother and Sister

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

This small group is a combination of pre-existing figures. The seated female figure was borrowed from Rodin's Galatea, itself inspired by Camille Claudel's Young Girl with a Sheaf (c.1887), and the boy can be related to the figures of children that Rodin modelled in the 1870s and 1880s.

A young adolescent girl with angular forms clasps her chubby younger brother to her chest as he sits on her knees. This gentle, charming little group appears as a counterpoint to the tragic universe that Rodin was exploring during the same period in The Gates of Hell. 

Auguste Rodin seems to have reworked a theme (a sister holding her younger brother) handled by Carpeaux in the 1870s but viewed from a different perspective. Whereas Carpeaux's figures were clearly identified as two orphans, victims of the events of the Paris Commune and its subsequent suppression, Rodin abandons all reference to a specific historical context and simply represents a scene of tenderness.

Each reproduction requires great expertise   and draws on the skills of the Rodin Museum's teams and craftsmen. It is from the official moulds from the museum's collections that the most accurate resin reproductions are made. They are then hand-patinated to give it the appearance of bronze, plaster or marble.

Finally, they are validated and checked by the Musée Rodin’s curators to ensure that they comply with moral rights.

Reproductions come with an explanatory note about the history of the work.

The seal and the mention “Reproduction - Musée Rodin” guarantee the quality and origin of the sculpture reproduction.