Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917) Psyché. Femme agenouillée, portant la main sur sa joue

Description:

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)

Psyché. Femme agenouillée, portant la main sur sa joue, c. 1900
Signed "A Rodin" l.r., inscribed "No. VIII J.J.CC...8956" in pencil on the reverse,
identified on a label from Curt Valentin Gallery affixed to the backing.
Graphite and watercolor on vélin paper, sheet size 11 7/8 x 9 3/4 in. (30.2 x 24.8 cm),framed.
Condition: Restored tear c.r., mat burn, toning, foxing.

Provenance: Curt Valentin Gallery, New York (no. 18385); by descent within a New England family.

Literature: Georges Grappe, Les Élégies amoureuses d'Ovide (Philippe Gonin, 1935),pl. 28, (reproduced as a wood engraving).

N.B. According to Christina Buley-Uribe, the present work was one of approximately thirty Rodin drawings of Psyché that were models for wood engravings rendered c.1902 by Jules-Léon Perrichon. She surmises that Rodin may have added watercolor to the work after it was reproduced as an engraving. Even though Rodin was a great reader and admirer of Ovid, Les Élégies amoureuses d'Ovide was not published until after Rodin's lifetime.

We wish to thank Christina Buley-Uribe for her kind assistance with cataloguing the lot; the work will be included in her forthcoming Catalogue raisonné des Dessins et Peintures d'Auguste Rodin under the number 120801. A photo-certificate from Madame Buley-Uribe accompanies the lot.
Estimate $7,000-9,000

Tear at c.r. measures approx. 1/2 in. length; fox mark l.l. approx. 1/4 x 1/4 in., Japanese paper tape hinge residue to the reverse along top edge; no additional condition issues to report.

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