NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s will feature three exquisite bronzes from Auguste Rodin’s masterpiece The Gates of Hell in its Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 7 May 2013. The group – consigned from a distinguished private collection – is led by a rare, early cast of Le Penseur (‘The Thinker’) from 1906 (est. $8/12 million*). Renowned as an icon of art history, this composition numbers among the most celebrated sculptures ever created. Le Penseur will be on view in London from 12 – 16 April, before returning for exhibition in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries beginning 3 May.

Simon Shaw, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department in New York, commented: “We are privileged to offer three of the finest sculptures by Rodin to appear at auction in recent years, on behalf of perhaps the finest private collection of his work. It is a pleasure to present such extraordinary casts in an increasingly sophisticated market, where distinctions of casting quality, patination, date and provenance are readily appreciated by collectors.”

THE GATES OF HELL
Commissioned in 1880 and inspired by Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy, the monumental portal known as La Porte de l’Enfer is the defining project of Auguste Rodin’s career. Although never fully realized, it is key to understanding his artistic aims: many of Rodin’s greatest sculptures derive from the single and multi-figural groups he created for the Gates, which occupied him tirelessly for 37 years.

Undoubtedly the most famous of these works is Le Penseur, which formed the crowning apex in the tympanum above the doorway. The early cast on offer was made by the Alexis Rudier foundry in Paris (est. $8/12 million). It is on the original scale of the Gates, and was commissioned directly from the artist by publishing magnate Ralph Pulitzer in 1906. Uniquely, it bears a plaque affirming that the cast was made for Pulitzer under Rodin’s direct supervision. Sotheby’s set the auction record for Le Penseur in 2010, when a later cast sold for $11.8 million in New York.

Along with Le Penseur, Le Baiser (‘The Kiss’) is Rodin’s best-loved sculpture. Where The Thinker represents the head, or reason, The Kiss is a canonical image of the heart. Originally intended for the left side of The Gates of Hell, the work portrays another scene from Dante’s Inferno: the ill-fated lovers Paolo and Francesca, shown in a passionate embrace. The superb bronze of Le Baiser on offer this May was cast in April 1909 (est. $800,000/1.2 million).

Ugolin et ses enfants (‘Ugolino and His Children’) was cast only three times during Rodin’s lifetime – Sotheby’s is pleased to present the first of these, dating from 1883 (est. $800,000/1.2 million). This rare composition is a towering embodiment of pathos in sculptural form, depicting a complex multi-figural group. The cast on offer was commissioned from the Gonon foundry, by artist and patron Henry Lerolle, who also patronized Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas. It featured in a photographic self-portrait that Degas took in 1895 with Lerolle’s daughters.