Auguste Rodin

This sculpture portrays French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) as a nude, corpulent figure in the stance of a wrestler. In 1891 Rodin was commissioned to make a statue of the author, to be installed at the Théâtre Français in Paris. Rodin immersed himself in Balzac’s writings, which were known for unvarnished descriptions of character, then examined photographs of Balzac, measured his clothing, and studied people of his native region in an effort to create a monument that exemplified the piercing realism of Balzac’s own work. Expecting a more dignified result, the sculpture’s sponsors were shocked by this confrontational portrait, and rejected it.