Auguste Rodin
The Thinker, The Kiss, and a casting history that has to be understood before anything else.
Auguste Rodin was born in Paris in 1840, was rejected three times by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and worked as a decorative mason for twenty years. The Age of Bronze in 1877 was so convincing that he was accused of casting from a live model. The Gates of Hell, commissioned in 1880 and never finished, generated most of the figures he is famous for, including The Thinker and The Kiss, which were enlarged and issued independently. He left everything to the French state, which is why the Musee Rodin exists and why it holds the moral rights to the work.
Nothing about a Rodin bronze can be assumed from its appearance. The Musee Rodin has authority to produce editions from the original plasters, limited by French law to twelve casts per model, and these posthumous casts are legitimate and are marked as such. Alongside them are lifetime casts, unauthorised casts and surmoulages taken from finished bronzes, which are smaller and softer in detail. Foundry mark, signature, cast number and the Comite Auguste Rodin's opinion are the whole of the exercise. Marbles were largely carved by assistants, which is normal practice and documented.
If you own a work by Auguste Rodin
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.