A uncommon bronze sculpture by Camille Claudel, misplaced for over a century earlier than its discovery in an deserted Paris condo, offered at public sale in France for €3.7 million ($3.8 million)—greater than double its pre-sale estimate.
Titled La Jeunesse et L’Age Mûr, or L’Age Mûr (The Age of Maturity), the expressive group of bronze sculptures depicts a person and two ladies, one aged and guiding him forward, and the opposite younger and kneeling, as if begging him to return. Claudel created a number of variations of the scene, which has been interpreted as an allegory for all times’s inevitable losses, in addition to a private tragedy that, on the time of its conception, was a recent wound: the dissolution of Claudel’s relationship along with her trainer and lover, Auguste Rodin. Following the breakup, Claudel suffered a nervous breakdown and was dedicated for psychiatric therapy. With this studying, the older girl might characterize her romantic rival Rose Beuret, Rodin’s housekeeper and eventual spouse.
In line with the public sale home, the bronze was discovered by Philocale’s auctioneer Matthieu Semont whereas inventorying the belongings of the condo for its heir, although the way it got here to be forgotten there may be nonetheless unclear. Claudel’s inventive achievements, nonetheless, largely languished in obscurity till the discharge of a 1988 biopic starring Isabel Adjani and Gerard Depardieu. Her market curiosity has since risen, with particular person items sometimes pricing round $1 million.
Solely three different bronze variations of L’Age Mûr are recognized to exist. The Musée Camille Claudel in Nogent-sur-Seine owns one from the identical mould, whereas two giant casts belong to the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée Rodin, respectively.
The bronze offered on Sunday at Philocale, an Orleans public sale home, is now the second most-expensive piece by Claudel ever offered. The highest record-holder is a single-casting model of La Valse (The Waltz), a bronze dancing couple, offered for £5.1 million at Sotheby’s London in June 2013. In a press release, Semont stated that the nameless purchaser of L’Age Mûr, who received the bid by way of phone, can be introduced to the general public later.
