Study of Honoré de Balzac (1891–1892): Art, History and Details

Study of Honoré de Balzac (1891–1892) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In 1891 Rodin was commissioned to create a monument honoring the celebrated French writer Honoré de Balzac. The figure evolved through multiple stages over a seven-year period as Rodin explored different methods of conveying the author’s genius and personality. This bust is a study for the first version, in which the full figure stands upright with legs apart, arms crossed over his corpulent belly. Rodin’s unglamorous portrayal of a national hero shocked the public accustomed to idealized figures in public monuments. The final design was even more intensely criticized because Rodin reduced the body to a powerful, abstract mass intended to convey the symbolic essence of the writer’s creative vitality.

Object facts

• Title: Study of Honoré de Balzac
• Date: 1891–1892
• Creator attribution: Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 52.7 x 39.4 x 32.4 cm (20 3/4 x 15 1/2 x 12 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1972.277

Collection credit

Bequest of Edgar A. Hahn

Further reading listed by the museum

• Tacha, Athena. A Supplement to Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.