The Old Courtesan (La Belle qui fut heaulmière)

Auguste Rodin French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 800

Incorporated into the left pilaster on The Gates of Hell, the withered old woman evoked a moral connection between sin and the ravages of time. The harrowing veracity of the independent sculpture accords with a statement of Rodin’s: "Character is the intense truth of any natural [sight], beautiful or ugly."

The Old Courtesan (La Belle qui fut heaulmière), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, French

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The Old Courtesan (La Belle qui fut heaulmière), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, French
The Old Courtesan (La Belle qui fut heaulmière), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, French
The Old Courtesan (La Belle qui fut heaulmière), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, French

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