The Prodigal Son, first modeled ca. 1884/1894-1899, this cast 1967
Bronze
Auguste Rodin
French, 1840-1917
In this sculpture, a kneeling man with raised arms and mouth agape, seems to be entreating heaven. It was originally part of a group called Ugolino and His Sons, created for Rodin’s monumental sculpture Gates of Hell. The story of Ugolino is from Dante’s Inferno and tells of a count and his children who were thrown in prison and starved. Rodin took the figure out of its original context and displayed it on its own. He also retitled it The Prodigal Son, after the story in the Gospel of Luke in which a wayward young man returns home and throws himself at his father’s feet to beg forgiveness for his misdeeds.
The figure is the same as the male figure from Rodin’s sculpture Fugitive Love in the next gallery, reassembled with different legs. The process of composing new works from pre-existing sculptures and fragments was central to Rodin’s creative process. In fact, over time, the artist began to spend less time modeling new sculptures and more time assembling existing pieces.
Gift of B. Gerald Cantor Art Foundation, M.73.108.7
Visual Description: This is a bronze sculpture of a nude, kneeling man with his head thrown back and arms extended up over his head. The statue is dark brown in color with patches of muted green. It stands roughly four and a half feet tall and a little over two feet wide. The man kneels on pitted, rocky ground with his arms thrown up towards the sky. His head is tilted back, looking upwards with a pleading expression on his face.
