The Age of Bronze

Rodin began this work with the memory of the Franco-Prussian War fresh in his mind. He intended to call it The Vanquished, and he used a Belgian soldier as his model. At one point the figure held a spear in his left hand. Later, however, Rodin changed his mind and renamed it The Age of Bronze, referring to a mythic age when men were consumed by violence and warfare. When he exhibited the sculpture in 1877, critics accused him of having made it from casts taken directly from a model’s body. Defending his reputation, Rodin supplied photographs of his model in the nude. The artist prevailed, and The Age of Bronze extended his international reputation.