Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Jules Dalou Model created in 1883 Bust in bronze with brown patina shaded with green Signed "A RODIN" on the left shoulder Marked "A RODIN" in relief on the inside Bears the founder's mark "Georges Rudier fondeur Paris" on the back and the museum copyright "@bymuséeRodin @bymuséeRodin 1955 H. 53 cm on a black marble base H. 8 cm Related works : - Auguste Rodin, Jules Dalou, 1889, bronze, H. 52 cm, Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 60.1 ; - Auguste Rodin, Jules Dalou, model created in 1883, cast in 1969, bronze, signed "A. Rodin", bears the mark "Georges Rudier Fondeur. Paris" and the inscription "©Musée Rodin 1969", H. 50 cm, Stanford, Cantor Arts Center, inv. 1974.83 ; Related literature: - Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Rodin's bronzes. Catalog des œuvres au Musée Rodin, Paris, Musée Rodin, RMN, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 284-285; - Cécile Goldscheider, Auguste Rodin: catalog raisonné de l'œuvre sculpté, Lausanne, Wildenstein Institute, Paris, Bibliothèque des arts, 1989, model listed under no. 131, pp. 171-173. At the Salon of 1884, Rodin presented the first plaster copy of this bust of Aimé Jules Dalou alongside that of Victor Hugo. The two artists' portraits were a great success, as the critic Louis de Fourcaud wrote: "There is nothing, in the Palais de l'industrie, more modern, because there is nothing so implacably and highly true. Rodin presents his friend, bare-chested, in a heroic pose, his face strikingly realistic. This image testifies to the esteemed relationship between the two artists, despite a fragile friendship caused by Dalou's stormy temperament. With this portrait, however, Rodin showed his admiration for the man who had returned from England after ten years of political exile, and who had just triumphed at the 1883 Salon with his relief of Mirabeau responding to Dreux-Brézé. Several bronze proofs of this remarkable bust exist. Rodin first entrusted the casting to Bingen (a copy presented at the 1889 Exposition Universelle), to Griffoul (a copy probably presented at the 1900 Exposition Universelle) and to Persinka (Sotckholm, private collection). An edition was then produced by Alexis Rudier between 1905 and the early 1930s, of which a dozen copies are currently held in international public collections. Georges Rudier cast two bronzes for the Musée Rodin: our bust in 1955 (commissioned January 5, 1955, Musée Rodin archives, côte D7 RE 7) and a second in 1969.