| Polyphemus | |
|---|---|
 The cast of the work in the Museo Soumaya | |
| Artist | Auguste Rodin |
| Year | 1888 |
Polyphemus is an 1888 sculpture by Auguste Rodin, showing Polyphemus and his love for the Nereid Galatea, as told in Book XIII of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
| Polyphemus | |
|---|---|
| The cast of the work in the Museo Soumaya | |
| Artist | Auguste Rodin |
| Year | 1888 |
Polyphemus is an 1888 sculpture by Auguste Rodin, showing Polyphemus and his love for the Nereid Galatea, as told in Book XIII of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
It was an initial study for the group of Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea at the centre of the right panel of The Gates of Hell . [1] Several bronze studies of Polyphemus' torso survive, but there is no known monumental version of the complete group. [2]
A bronze cast of the work is now in the Museo Soumaya.
François Auguste René Rodin was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.
Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first appeared as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of the Odyssey. The satyr play of Euripides is dependent on this episode apart from one detail; Polyphemus is made a pederast in the play. Later Classical writers presented him in their poems as heterosexual and linked his name with the nymph Galatea. Often he was portrayed as unsuccessful in these, and as unaware of his disproportionate size and musical failings. In the work of even later authors, however, he is presented as both a successful lover and skilled musician. From the Renaissance on, art and literature reflect all of these interpretations of the giant.
The Thinker is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, usually placed on a stone pedestal. The work depicts a nude male figure of heroic size sitting on a rock. He is seen leaning over, his right elbow placed on his left thigh, holding the weight of his chin on the back of his right hand. The pose is one of deep thought and contemplation, and the statue is often used as an image to represent philosophy.
The Gates of Hell is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the Inferno, the first section of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It stands at 6 metres high, 4 metres wide and 1 metre deep (19.7×13.1×3.3 ft) and contains 180 figures.
The Martyr or The Little Martyr is a c.1885 plaster sculpture of a naked dead or sleeping female figure by Auguste Rodin, now in the Musee Rodin.
Cybele is a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin. It is one of the first of Rodin's partial figures known as "fragments" to be displayed as sculpture in its own right, rather than an incomplete study.
Eternal Springtime is a c. 1884 sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, depicting a pair of lovers. It was created at the same time as The Gates of Hell and originally intended to be part of it. One of its rare 19th-century original casts belongs to the permanent collection of Calouste Gulbenkian Museum.
The Falling Man is a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin modeled in 1882 and is part of Rodin's emblematic group The Gates of Hell.
Fugitive Love is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin made between 1886 and 1887, both sculpted in marble and cast in bronze. It represents a man and a woman embracing each other on top of a rock. More specifically, the author was inspired by the story of Francesca da Rimini's love affair with Paolo Malatesta, an allusion to Dante Alighieri's depiction of lust on the second circle of Hell in his Inferno.
Ugolino and his sons is a plaster sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, part of the sculptural group known as The Gates of Hell. As an independent piece, it was exhibited by its author in Brussels (1887), Edinburgh (1893), Genoa (1896), Florence (1897), Netherlands (1899) and in his own retrospective in 1900.
Standing Mercury is a bronze sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, first exhibited in 1888. Rodin depicts the mythological god Mercury, son of Maia and Jupiter—messenger of the gods and guide to the Underworld—as a young man, representing eloquence and reason. This depiction is opposite to the traditional representation of Hermes, its Greek counterpart, as a mature man.
The Bust of Maurice Haquette is an 1883 bronze sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, measuring 53.5 by 26.7 by 41.1 cm.
Eve is a nude sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin. It shows Eve despairing after the Fall.
The Three Shades is a sculptural group produced in plaster by Auguste Rodin in 1886 for his The Gates of Hell. He made several individual studies for the Shades before finally deciding to put them together as three identical figures gathered around a central point. The heads hang low so that the neck and shoulders form an almost-horizontal plane. They were to be placed above the gates looking down on the viewer.
The Kneeling Man is a work originally conceived in 1888 by the French artist Auguste Rodin for his The Gates of Hell project.
Kneeling Female Faun is a sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin. A variant of his work The Martyr, it is made of bronze. It was originally conceived in 1884 and exhibited in 1889 in Georges Petit's gallery.
Glaucus is a sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, first conceived in 1886 as a representation of the mythological figure Glaucus, son of Poseidon. Originally made in plaster, bronze casts of it are now in the Brooklyn Museum and the Museo Soumaya.
Despair or Despair at the Gate is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin that he conceived and developed from the early 1880s to c. 1890 as part of his The Gates of Hell project. The figure belongs to a company of damned souls found in the nine circles of Hell described by Dante in The Divine Comedy. Other title variations are Shade Holding her Foot, Woman Holding Her Foot, and Desperation. There are numerous versions of this work executed as both plaster and bronze casts and carved marble and limestone.
Ovid's Metamorphoses or The Satyrs is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin, created as part of The Gates of Hell.
The Sirens, The Sirens' Song or Nereids is an 1887 bronze sculpture with a brown patina. It was created by Auguste Rodin and cast by the Rudier Foundry.
Media related to Polyphemus (Auguste Rodin) at Wikimedia Commons