Beautiful Heaulmière

Rodin was said to have been struck by a sense of sadness when he saw a statue The Destitution by Jules Desbois (1851-1935) and later received an introduction to the old woman who had modeled for the piece. The old woman was an Italian named Marie Caira. Rodin posed Caira and then created this work after sitting and observing her form for hours. This sculpture with its modeling that faithfully captures the effect of an old, ugly weather beaten body is one of Rodin's most naturalist works. This old woman is placed on the left pillar on The Gates of Hell, where it, along with a baby and a mother, forms a low relief group symbolizing mankind's life as it spans birth, youth and the decline into old age. The name of the work, Heaulmière comes from the ballad entitled "Les Regrets de la Belle Heaulmière" from the Le Testament by François Villon. This poem depicts the anguish of a woman with a peerless beauty, called La Belle Heaulmière who has becomes an old woman. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 135)