The Three Shades
The Shades are three separate casts of the same figure that has been rotated into different positions. Each is a small version of the monumental bronze Adam (11.173.1) that Rodin once planned to place at one side of The Gates of Hell. In the final version of The Gates, the Shades stood above the center of the lintel and personify the dead. The chocolate brown color of this group reveals its identity as a modern cast. Bronzes made before Rodin’s death in 1917 generally were patinated almost black and flecked with green, as is seen in the lifetime casts of Adam, Eve (11.173.2) and the Thinker (11.173.9).
Artwork Details
- Title: The Three Shades
- Artist: Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon)
- Founder: Cast by Georges Rudier (French)
- Date: modeled between 1881 and 1886, cast 1969
- Culture: French
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: Overall (wt. confirmedS): 38 1/4 × 37 × 20 1/2 in., 246 lb. (97.2 × 94 × 52.1 cm, 111.6 kg)
- Classification: Sculpture-Bronze
- Credit Line: Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 1984
- Object Number: 1984.364.17
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Auguste Rodin
modeled probably before 1889, cast before 1912
Auguste Rodin
last quarter 19th–early 20th century
Auguste Rodin
20th century
Auguste Rodin
1882–85
Auguste Rodin
1882–85
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