PARIS.- Yesterday, Wednesday July 6th, at Drouot-Montaigne in Paris, the Kneeling Fauness by Rodin, a 21 5/8 in. high marble statue, signed and dedicated on the base « au Maître Puvis de Chavannes », was auctioned by Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr and sold for €724,000.

The Kneeling Fauness, an exceptional marble by Auguste Rodin

An emblematic figure in Rodin’s oeuvre, the Kneeling Fauness expresses well the ambivalence of the sculptor’s feelings towards women, both muses and temptresses. Beyond the appearance of a nude woman stretching out and offering up her delicate body lurks a predatory creature.

Signed and dedicated on its base « Au Maître Puvis de Chavannes », this 21 5/8 in. high statue, created in 1887, was executed in marble circa 1890.

Conceived for The Gates of Hell, a major work on which Rodin worked until the end of his life, this extraordinary piece fully reveals the sculptor’s genius, through the brilliant modelling of the body and delicacy of bared skin.

« Works of such quality are extremely rare on the international art market » notes Constance Lemasson, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Cornette de Saint Cyr auction house, who coordinated the July 6th auction. According to Jérôme Le Blay, a founding member of the Comité Rodin and author of a catalogue on Rodin’s sculpted oeuvre, the Fauness is « one of the most beautiful marbles seen on the art market in the past fifteen years ».

The auction also featured two charcoal drawings by Odilon Redon, L’Extase (Ecstasy) and Le Miroir Hanté (The Haunted Mirror), sold for €97,500 each; an ink on paper by Paul Delvaux, auctioned €156,250 ; and an oil painting by Edy-Legrand, Scène de Mariage à Animiter (Wedding in Animiter), sold for €187,500.

The auction’s total product amounts to €1,434,875.