A related work in the Musée Rodin suggests the model for this drawing was a woman, yet Rodin inscribed the sheet "Néron," or Nero, the legendarily cruel and decadent Roman emperor. The metamorphosis of the composition through the accumulation of bold, swirling graphite strokes, layers of watercolor and gouache, and the added title exemplifies the shifting of meaning possible with Rodin’s works.
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Title:Nero
Artist:Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon)
Date:1900–1910
Medium:Graphite with stumping, watercolor, and gouache
Dimensions:Overall: 12 13/16 x 9 13/16 in. (32.5 x 25 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1910
Accession Number:10.66.5
Signature: Lower right, in graphite: Aug. Rodin
Inscription: Center right within image, in graphite: Neron
Photo Secession Gallery. "An Exhibition of Recent and Early Drawings and Water-Colors by Auguste Rodin," March 1, 1910–April 1, 1910.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Rodin Drawings: True and False," November 20, 1971–January 23, 1972.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Rodin Drawings: True and False," March 9, 1972–May 14, 1972.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," July 27–October 25, 2004.
Statens Museum for Kunst. "Ecstasies: Drawings by Auguste Rodin," September 23, 2016–January 15, 2017.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rodin at The Met," September 16, 2017–February 4, 2018.
Williamstown, Mass. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. "Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern," June 18, 2022–September 18, 2022.
Photo Secession: Exhibition of Drawings by Auguste Rodin. Edward J. Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, New York, March 31 - April 16, 1910, cat. no. 19.
Elisabeth Chase Geissbuhler, Antoine-Emile Bourdelle Rodin: Later Drawings. Boston, 1963, fig. no. 6, pp. 16-17, 18, ill.
Albert Elsen, J. Kirk T. Varnedoe, Victoria Thorson, Elisabeth Chase Geissbuhler The Drawings of Rodin. Ex. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1971, fig. no. 94, ill.
Clare Vincent "Rodin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, A History of the Collection." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 38, no. 4, Spring 1981, fig. no. 21.
Sarah Greenough, Sarah Greenough, National Gallery of Art Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 2000, note 43, p. 493.
Christina Buley-Uribe Rodin: La Lumière de l'Antique. Pascale Picard, Arles, 2013, fig. no. 100, pp. 215–216, ill.
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain Rodin. Abbeville Press, New York and London, 2014, p. 275.
Thomas Lederballe, Sophie Biass-Fabiani, Natasha Ruiz-Gómez Ecstasies: Drawings by Auguste Rodin. Copenhagen, 2016, cat. no. 22, p. 207.
Rodin : le livre du centenaire. Catherine Chevillot, Paris, March 22-July 31, 2017, fig. no. 27, p. 175, ill.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
