Photo : © Corentin Le Goff
Head of a young girl wearing the Alsatian headdress, tilted, the collar draped.
Artist:
Auguste Rodin (sculptor)
School country: France
Paris 1840 Meudon 1917
circa 1871 circa 1878
Material: White marble
Technique: Carved
Dimensions H x W x D in cm: 39.5 x 23.5 x 17.6 overall
Weight: 16,050 g
Provenance: Bequest of Henry Vasnier November 1907
Place of Conservation: Museum of Fine Arts inv. 907.19.399
The greatest French sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries entered the museum collection in 1907 thanks to the Reims collector Henry Vasnier. Auguste Rodin created this youthful sculpture after his training in Paris notably under Antoine Barye and during his collaboration with Albert Ernest Carrier Belleuse another renowned sculptor of the time whom he joined in Brussels following the Franco Prussian War of 1870 1871. It was precisely in this context and city that the artist began his true career and created Young Alsatian also known as Alsatian Orphan (1871 plaster at the Rodin Museum Paris). This work was among his early successes and was exhibited several times to the public.
The Reims example likely comes from a series executed by the craftsman Constant Henri Tréhart (Rodin Museum Paris National Foundation of Graphic and Plastic Arts Paris Soumaya Museum Mexico). The model is probably Rose Beuret the artist’s companion since 1864 though it may also recall though unconfirmed a young child seen in 1863 during a procession in Strasbourg. Exhibited in 1883 at an event to aid the flood victims of Alsace Lorraine in the galleries of the magazine L’Art at Place de l’Opéra Paris the work was described as a “pretty marble dream.” Indeed beyond its underlying patriotic significance the figure captivates above all through the melancholy it conveys. This feeling mixed with nostalgia and combined with the softness and whiteness of the marble is enhanced by the careful work on the lace of the costume. The typical Alsatian headdress usually recognized by its rigidity shaped like a bow has here been skillfully softened. It seems to caress the child’s head like a protective hand. [M H Montout Richard 2017]