?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
AUGUSTE RODIN Victor Hugo, de Face.
Drypoint on imitation vellum, 1885. 225x159 mm; 8 7/8x6 1/4 inches, wide (full ?) margins. Fifth state (of 9), after the reduction of the plate but before the letters. Signed in pencil, lower right. A brilliant and early impression with richly-inked burr.
Provenance: Carl Otto Beyer, with the ink stamp (Lugt 495a, lower right recto); unknown collector, with an unidentified blind stamp (Lugt 2380a, lower right recto).
Rodin (1840-1917) was captivated by the physiognomy of the celebrated French author Victor Hugo; he made two different drypoint portraits of Hugo, one in three-quarter view and the current work in a frontal pose (as well as a bronze bust portrait). According to Thorson, Rodin stated that, "Hugo had the air of Hercules; belonged to a great race. Something of a tiger, or an old lion. He had an immense animal nature. His eyes were especially beautiful and the most striking thing about him." Delteil 7; Thorson 9.
