Editing Auguste Rodin (section)

===Early figures: the inspiration of Italy===
In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, ''[[The Age of Bronze]]'', having returned from Italy. Modeled after a Belgian soldier, the figure drew inspiration from Michelangelo's ''[[Dying Slave]]'', which Rodin had observed at the [[Louvre]]. Attempting to combine Michelangelo's mastery of the human form with his own sense of human nature, Rodin studied his model from all angles, at rest and in motion; he mounted a ladder for additional perspective, and made clay models, which he studied by candlelight.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=The Making of Rodin |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/ey-exhibition-rodin/exhibition-guide#:~:text=Rodin%20was%20in%20his%20mid,all%20angles,%20even%20from%20above. |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}</ref> The result was a life-size, well-proportioned nude figure, posed unconventionally with his right hand atop his head, and his left arm held out at his side, forearm parallel to the body.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Joan Vita |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rodin/nYYD8amhfGAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=did+Rodin+studied+his+model+from+all+angles&pg=PA96&printsec=frontcover |title=Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection |last2=Marotta |first2=Gary |date=1986 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87099-443-2 |pages=96 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1877, the work debuted in Brussels and then was shown at the Paris Salon. The statue's apparent lack of a theme was troubling to critics – commemorating neither mythology nor a noble historical event – and it is not clear whether Rodin intended a theme.<ref>Hale, 50.</ref> He first titled the work ''The Vanquished'', in which form the left hand held a spear, but he removed the spear because it obstructed the torso from certain angles. After two more intermediary titles, Rodin settled on ''The Age of Bronze'', suggesting the [[Bronze Age]], and in Rodin's words, "man arising from nature".<ref name="H51">Hale, 51.</ref> Later, however, Rodin said that he had had in mind "just a simple piece of sculpture without reference to subject".<ref name="H51"/>

Its mastery of form, light, and shadow made the work look so naturalistic that Rodin was accused of ''surmoulage'' – having taken a cast from a living model. Rodin vigorously denied the charges, writing to newspapers and having photographs taken of the model to prove how the sculpture differed. He demanded an inquiry and was eventually exonerated by a committee of sculptors. Leaving aside the false charges, the piece polarized critics. It had barely won acceptance for display at the Paris Salon, and criticism likened it to "a statue of a sleepwalker" and called it "an astonishingly accurate copy of a low type".<ref name="H51"/> Others rallied to defend the piece and Rodin's integrity. The government minister Turquet admired the piece, and ''The Age of Bronze'' was purchased by the state for 2,200 [[franc]]s – what it had cost Rodin to have it cast in bronze.<ref name="H51"/>

[[File:St-John-the-Baptist-Preaching.jpg|alt=Nude man holding is hand out, as if explaining a point.|thumb|upright|''St. John the Baptist Preaching'' (1878)]]
A second male nude, ''[[Saint John the Baptist (Rodin)|St. John the Baptist Preaching]]'', was completed in 1878. Rodin sought to avoid another charge of ''surmoulage'' by making the statue larger than life: ''St. John'' stands almost {{convert|6|ft|7|in|m}}. While ''The Age of Bronze'' is statically posed, ''St. John'' gestures and seems to move toward the viewer. The effect of walking is achieved despite the figure having both feet firmly on the ground – a technical achievement that was lost on most contemporary critics.<ref>Hale, 80.</ref> Rodin chose this contradictory position to, in his words, "display simultaneously...views of an object which in fact can be seen only successively".<ref name="H68">Hale, 68.</ref>

Despite the title, ''St. John the Baptist Preaching'' did not have an obviously religious theme. The model, an Italian peasant who presented himself at Rodin's studio, possessed an idiosyncratic sense of movement that Rodin felt compelled to capture. Rodin thought of [[John the Baptist]] and carried that association into the title of the work.<ref name="H68"/> In 1880, Rodin submitted the sculpture to the Paris Salon. Critics were still mostly dismissive of his work, but the piece finished third in the Salon's sculpture category.<ref name="H68"/>