Rodin’s portrait of Balzac

Honoré de Balzac moved to Les Jardies in 1837 to write and try his hand at making his fortune through a property development project. Fifty years later, Auguste Rodin was commissioned to erect a monument in the writer’s honour in the capital. Discover the story behind this work, which caused a huge scandal!

The origins of the scandal

A commission in honour of Balzac

In 1888, the Société des gens de lettres decided to erect a monument to Balzac, who had died in Paris in 1850 at the age of 51.

The commission was initially awarded to Henri Chapu, but the sculptor died before he could complete the monument.

Émile Zola, then President of the Société des gens de lettres, suggested re-awarding the commission to a friend and artist whom he admired: Auguste Rodin.

Portrait d'Honoré de Balzac par Pierre Petit & Trinquart, entre 1870 et 1890
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris

A lengthy creative process

The sculptor began by carrying out documentary and iconographic research into Balzac’s features and silhouette, drawing on earlier depictions and documents such as photographs and a cast of the writer’s hand.

Once he had established the figure, he set about studying the drapery. Rodin proposed a combination of these two disparate elements: whilst the head represents an expressive and inspired portrait, the form of the body is, for its part, dissolved into a broad, simple drape.

Artistic innovation

After six years of lengthy and meticulous research, Rodin produced a revolutionary monument devoid of the accessories and attributes usually associated with the writer. Balzac is depicted standing at a height of nearly three metres, wearing the dressing gown he used to wear whilst writing. His determined gaze evokes the creative and visionary genius of the man of letters. Rodin described his artistic approach as follows: ‘I wanted to show the hard worker haunted at night by an idea, rising to jot it down on his writing desk.’

Moulage en plâtre de la main droite de Balzac
Maison des Jardies - Centre des monuments nationaux

The story of a scandal

The plaster cast was exhibited in 1898 at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. But this daring work sparked controversy, and the critics were up in arms.

Because Rodin broke with tradition and the established conventions for a commemorative monument, the Society rejected his sculpture. Determined to remain true to his own vision of Balzac, he felt that his work should not be altered. The commission was cancelled; Rodin returned the money and took his statue away with him. He subsequently turned down all offers to purchase it.

The sculptor never saw his work cast in bronze. It was not until several decades later that Rodin’s Balzac was finally recognised by the public. The monument was eventually unveiled on 1 July 1939 in the capital, at the junction of the Boulevards Raspail and Montparnasse.

On display in the kitchen of the Maison des Jardies is a plaster cast of the monumental head of Balzac, dating from 1898. A coat of shellac, intended to protect the plaster, gives it its brown colour. This detail indicates that this head was used to make a sand mould, a preliminary step in the casting of the bronze sculpture. Come and see it for yourself during your visit to the Maison des Jardies!