Eternal Springtime, by Rodin

Description

This is a reproduction of a bronze sculpture made around 1916-7 and it was modeled around 1884. The torso of the woman in this group is recognizable as that of a model named Adèle Abruzzezzi. Rodin used her repeatedly, and she also appears in a very different context in The Gates of Hell. Eternal Springtime it’s full of awakening sensuality and implying neither guilt nor punishment to come. The sculpture was extremely popular, and Rodin repeated it often both in marble and in bronze. This bronze displays the sensuous, veiled quality of carving that creates an impressionistic play of light and shade on the surface of the medium characteristic of the sculptures of Rodin’s later career. The two young nude figures meet in a kiss. Her legs graze the ground and her upper body is held in a taut arc and supported by the embrace of the male figure. He is posed precariously on the edge of a rocky mound, crossing his legs, extending his left foot beyond the base of the sculpture and his left arm in a full and graceful reach into space.