Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • The Old Courtesan, modeled 1887, this bronze cast 1910
    Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
    Bronze; H. 19 3/4 in. (50.2 cm)
    Gift of Thomas F. Ryan, 1910 (11.173.3)

    Also called She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife (Celle qui fut la belle heaulmière), a title taken from the poem "Les Regrets de la Belle Heaulmière" by François Villon (1431–ca. 1463), this sculpture derives from a bas-relief on the lower part of the left pilaster of The Gates of Hell. It is one of the many figures that Rodin extracted from the model for the monumental portal and reworked as individual sculptures to be purchased by collectors. The subject for this figure was an Italian woman who had once been a professional model. Rodin used her aged body for several studies and for groups of figures, as well as for this starkly realistic sculpture. In the Paris Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890, it was called simply Old Woman (Vielle femme), suggesting that both titles, The Old Courtesan and She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife, may have been fanciful afterthoughts.

    This work of art also appears on Connections: Opera

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    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Vincent, Clare. "Rodin at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A History of the Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 38, no. 4 (Spring, 1981).
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    • On view: Gallery 800
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    • The Old Courtesan, modeled 1887, this bronze cast 1910
    Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
    Bronze; H. 19 3/4 in. (50.2 cm)
    Gift of Thomas F. Ryan, 1910 (11.173.3)

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