The Genius of the Sculptor (c. 1880–83): Art, History and Details

The Genius of the Sculptor (c. 1880–83) 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:

Auguste Rodin repeatedly explored the theme of creative male genius in major works, such as the famous Thinker, a cast of which sits outside the Cleveland Museum of Art on the south terrace. In this drawing, Rodin depicted the artist in active thought with his hand on his head, accompanied by a wingless “genius” floating above him. He derived this symbol of inner creative energy from the traditional subject of the winged muse, examples of which also appear on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling as companions to God the Father.

Object facts

• Title: The Genius of the Sculptor
• Date: c. 1880–83
• Creator attribution: Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and brown ink
• Dimensions: Sheet: 26.3 x 18.9 cm (10 3/8 x 7 7/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2008.404

A detail from the museum

In other similar depictions of the theme seen in this drawing, Auguste Rodin depicted Genius as a woman.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lugt, Frits. Les Marques de collections de dessins et d'estampes. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1956. Online.
• Non-Dissenters: Fifth Exhibition Marking Our Tenth Anniversary. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1976.
• Fusco, Peter, and H. W. Janson. The Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth-Century Sculpture from North American Collections. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980.

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.