Portrait of Rodin

This portrait of the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin was painted by John Singer Sargent in 1884. It is inscribed across the top "à mon ami Rodin John S. Sargent 1884" ("to my friend Rodin John S. Sargent 1884"). John Singer Sargent was an American painter, mostly known among his contemporaries as an accomplished portrait painter. Sargent and Rodin probably met in Paris in the early 1880s and an artistic exchange ensued, with Rodin starting to work on a bust of Sargent and Sargent starting to work on a portrait of Rodin. While there is no record of Sargent's bust by Rodin (it was probably never completed, but a statuette of Sargent was delivered by Rodin to Sargent instead), Sargent finished this powerful portrait of Rodin and delivered it to him. Sargent's portrait of Rodin ensures the viewer’s focus is on Rodin's head and gaze. Rodin's bust and the background are painted in dark tones, so that we are not distracted from Rodin's piercing gaze and long, ginger beard. With this portrait, Sargent manages to convey both Rodin’s physical appearance and his strong personality. Years later, in a newspaper interview Rodin declared that Sargent was "le Van Dyck de l'époque" ("the Van Dyck of our times").

Lara

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