FRENCH SCULPTURE CENSUS / RÉPERTOIRE DE SCULPTURE FRANÇAISE RODIN, Auguste Paris 1840 - Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine 1917 Mursch (chiseler), Chantre ("monteur") [Registre Rudier 1(1926-1929) archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] Maker: Rudier, Eugène Les Sirènes The Sirens model before 1888, cast 1927 bronze; sand cast [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] group 1 1 17 x 18 ?16 x 12 ?2 ; weight: 48.50 Ib [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] left side of front of base: A. Rodin right side of back of base: Alexis RUDier / Fondeur.Paris. in relief on interior of base at back: A. Rodin Acc. No.: 1978.71.1 Credit Line: Gift of David Baron in memory of his wife, Mary F. Baron Photo credit: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington © Artist : Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, The National Gallery of Art www.nga.gov Provenance 1927, January 3, Commissioned by the Musée Rodin, Paris [B1, D73 archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] 1927, January 25, Invoice date [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] 1927, August 5, Delivery date [ACHD14, 1E11.1 archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] 1927, August 26, Payment date [ACHD14 archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] 1927, cast executed for the Musée Rodin Collection, Paris and sold in 1943 [archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] 1943, November 23, Bruxelles, ILG [ACHD24, ACHD47 archives, Musée Rodin, Paris] Between 1943, November 29-1965, Marlborough Fine Art Limited, London, and Marlborough Galleria d'Arte, Rome 1965, sold to David Baron [1894-1991], St. Louis, Missouri 1978, gift to NGA Bibliography 1887 Geffroy Gustave Geffroy, "A. Rodin.", La Justice, 19 May 1887 1889 Bartlett Truman H. Bartlett, "Auguste Rodin, Sculptor.", American Architect and Building News, 19 January-15 June 1889, p. 225 1927 Grappe Georges Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927, p. 63 1944 Grappe Georges Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, 5th ed. Paris, 1944, p. 67 1967 Spear Athena Tacha Spear, Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1967, p. 8, 60- 61, 64, 99 1976 Tancock John Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, p. 215-219 1981 Elsen Albert Elsen, Rodin Rediscovered, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1981 1981 Roos Jane Roos, Rodin, Hugo, and the Pantheon: Art and Politics in the Third Republic, Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1981, p. 651-652 1988 Fonsmark Anne-Brigitte Fonsmark, Rodin: La collection du Brasseur Carl Jacobsen à la Glyptothèque, Copenhagen, 1988, p. 122-123 1988 Beausire Alain Beausire, Quand Rodin Exposait, Paris, 1988, p. 105, 125, 131, 148, 157, 178, 181-182, 211, 233, 251, 255, 330 1993 Rosenfeld Daniel G. Rosenfeld, Auguste Rodin's Carved Sculpture, Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1993, p. 470-474 1994 NGA Sculpture Catalogue Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994, p. 207, repro. 1998 Porter and Lacasse John R. Porter and Yves Lacasse, Rodin à Québec, Quebec, 1998, p. 154-155 2000 Butler and Lindsay Ruth Butler, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000, p. 354-357, color repro. 2007 Le Normand-Romain (français) Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, avec la collaboration d'Hélène Marraud et Diane Tytgat, introductions par Dr. Ruth Butler et Mr. Régis Cusinberche, Rodin et le bronze. Catalogue des œuvres conservées au musée Rodin, 2 volumes, Paris, Musée Rodin / Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 652-655, Les Sirènes, avant 1887, cet exemplaire est cité p.653 : "Fonte Alexis Rudier : [...] 1927, Washington, National Gallery of Art, don David Baron, 1978 (fondu pour les collections du musée, mais vendu en 1943)" 2007 Le Normand-Romain (English) Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, with the collaboration of Hélène Marraud and Diane Tytgat, introductions by Dr. Ruth Butler and Mr. Régis Cusinberche, The Bronzes of Rodin. Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, 2 volumes, English version, Paris, Musée Rodin / Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 652-655, The Sirens, before 1887, this copy is mentioned p.653: "Cast by Alexis Rudier [...] 1927, Washington, National Gallery of Art, gift of David Baron, 1978 (cast for the museum collections, but sold in 1943)" 2012 Le Normand-Romain Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, "Rodin : découvertes à Dallas", Revue de l'Art, n° 177, 2012-3, p. 57-63 2017 Blanchetière François Blanchetière, L’Enfer selon Rodin, éditions du musée Rodin, édition Norma, Paris, 2017, cat. 169 Exhibitions 1958 London XIX and XX Century European Masters: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Marlborough Fine Art Limited, London, 1958, no. 90, repro., as Les Trois Graces 1981-1982 Washington Rodin Rediscovered, Washington, DC., National Gallery of Art, June 28, 1981-May 2, 1982, organized by Albert E. Elsen, Kirk Varnedoe, and Ruth Butler, cat. no. 265, p. 334 1987 Anchorage Sculpture: Looking into Three Dimensions, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska, 1987- 1988, unnumbered 2009 Los Angeles/Washington/Chicago The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 2009-2010, unnumbered catalogue.