A family thought the sculpture on their piano was a ‘fake' Rodin. Now it's sold for more than $1.5 million
A sculpture by French artist
Auguste Rodin
— which had disappeared from public view for almost 120 years and was thought to be a copy — has sold for €860,000 ($A1,507,783.20) at auction.
Le Désespoir (Despair) — which shows a female figure sitting on a rock holding one foot, with her knee hugged to her chest — was rediscovered at the end of 2024 after last being sold in 1906, French auction house Rouillac said.
Rodin, who lived from 1840-1917, made several versions of Le Désespoir. This particular sculpture was modelled in 1890 and sculpted from marble in 1892-1893.
Measuring just 28.5cm by 15cm by 25cm, the sculpture was originally modelled to form part of Rodin's monumental work The Gates Of Hell which features more than 200 figures and groups.
The previous owners — a family from central France — had no idea of its value and had displayed the sculpture on top of a piano alongside family photos, auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac told CNN.
'They said 'it's a fake, it's a copy',' Rouillac said, adding he nevertheless decided to investigate further.
The details of this sculpture are striking, Rouillac told CNN.
'The back, the muscles, they are perfect,' he said. 'You can feel every vertebra in the spinal column.'
Following his own investigation, Rouillac took the sculpture for assessment by the Comité Rodin, which maintains a catalogue of the artist's work.
Comité Rodin founder Jérôme Le Blay told CNN he was immediately struck by the 'exceptional' piece.
'I realised in a second that it was real,' he said. 'I had absolutely no doubt.'
This particular example is 'extremely well made,' Le Blay said, adding it dates back to a period when Rodin was dedicating a huge amount of time to making a small number of sculptures.
Rodin would have worked with assistants who would have carried out the initial work on a piece of marble, before he performed the final stages, he explained.
According to Le Blay, the sculpture dates to 'one of the best moments of Rodin's career' before his growing fame meant he started to produce more and more works after the turn of the century.
Upon his death, Rodin left his works to the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as granting it permission to continue producing his bronze sculptures.
While many of these posthumous bronzes go under the hammer each year, marbles are much harder to find, Le Blay said.
Most of Rodin's marbles are owned by the Musée Rodin or by other large museums around the world.
'Marbles in private collections are rare,' he said, adding this piece has a 'kind of magic' due to the fact it has reappeared for sale after such a long time.
In a 'passionate' auction, the top bid was made by a young banker from the US West Coast, according to the auction house.
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The fabled English-language bookshop in Paris that has featured in films by Woody Allen and Richard Linklater and more takes another bow. Agathe adores the company of characters in books, but life outside of work for this thirtysomething isn't scintillating. She quite fancies her good friend Felix (Pablo Pauly), but hasn't slept with anyone in two years and struggles with imposter syndrome as she tries her hand at writing fiction. Felix, she says, is a "breadcrumber". Well, if I'm leading women on, he replies, you're reclusive. Not into digital, not into likes on social media. Just not born into the right century. Touché! British-French actress Rutherford is a natural for her role as Agathe. She and Pauly, like most of the actors in this charming comedy of manners set on both sides of the English Channel, are bi-lingual. English suits Agathe's writing style and she wins a residency at the Jane Austen estate. She will spend two weeks deep in the English countryside, working alongside a small group of other writers who have also been selected for assistance with their development. One the day she departs, the Channel crossing isn't especially choppy, but as you might expect, Agathe gets seasick anyway. When her lift at the other end, Oliver (Charlie Anson) shows up in his vintage sports car, she cannot hold it any longer. Anyway, he has unbearable attitude, and he declares his celebrated great-great-great-great aunt overrated. Then his car breaks down and they have to complete their journey in sullen silence, with a lift in an apple cart. Although she's a sophisticated, cultivated Left Bank Parisian, Agathe clearly belongs to the tradition of clumsy and awkward female romantic leads, like Rene Zellweger of the first Bridget Jones film, famously inspired by the works of Jane Austen, and a hugely popular series. Of course, the wider the gulf between the romantic couple, the more fun it is. Agathe thinks Oliver is insufferable and arrogant, while he lets her know he finds her underwhelming. Of course, they will despise each other at the start. Think 10 Things I Hate About You. And so continues the never-ending tit-for-tat between the French and the English. No one besides the English themselves are better at sending themselves up, and the same can be said of the French. For both countries, farce is a national sport. Filmed in France, this charming frothy rom-com is the work of French writer-director, Laura Piani. It's a delicious concoction, a contribution to a genre that we barely see on the cinema screen these days, and hope will one day return. A film like Materialists, a rom-com for these digital times that was released last week, is unusual at the cinema these days. And Notting Hill was a very long time ago. Jane Austen died young and wrote anonymously during her lifetime. Yet her six novels were hugely influential and have had a life of their own on screen. You have to wonder what she would have thought of the many films and series made in her name. As a writer fed up with the gothic and exaggerated romanticism in popular literature in her time, she would have liked the humour mixed with realism, even if it couldn't match her incisive, comic insight into the absurdities of ordinary daily life. There is a touching moment at the end of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life that has a serious bit of advice for the wary and the uncertain, when a well-known American documentary filmmaker appears in a cameo, reading a poem about letting life in. It hints at a little more than froth and farce and is a good note to end on. Jane Austen Wrecked My Life M, 98 minutes 3 Stars Once again, one of England's best and most popular novelists has a thing or two to answer for. Here we have another romantic comedy for the screen that was inspired by the wonderful books of Jane Austen about village life set in the south of England two centuries ago. It is a charmer. Set in the literary milieu in Paris, it is no surprise to hear bookseller Agathe (Camille Rutherford) tell a customer at Shakespeare and Company that Sense and Sensibility is her favourite Jane Austen read. And to confide that her favourite heroine is Anne Elliot in Persuasion. The fabled English-language bookshop in Paris that has featured in films by Woody Allen and Richard Linklater and more takes another bow. Agathe adores the company of characters in books, but life outside of work for this thirtysomething isn't scintillating. She quite fancies her good friend Felix (Pablo Pauly), but hasn't slept with anyone in two years and struggles with imposter syndrome as she tries her hand at writing fiction. Felix, she says, is a "breadcrumber". Well, if I'm leading women on, he replies, you're reclusive. Not into digital, not into likes on social media. Just not born into the right century. Touché! British-French actress Rutherford is a natural for her role as Agathe. She and Pauly, like most of the actors in this charming comedy of manners set on both sides of the English Channel, are bi-lingual. English suits Agathe's writing style and she wins a residency at the Jane Austen estate. She will spend two weeks deep in the English countryside, working alongside a small group of other writers who have also been selected for assistance with their development. One the day she departs, the Channel crossing isn't especially choppy, but as you might expect, Agathe gets seasick anyway. When her lift at the other end, Oliver (Charlie Anson) shows up in his vintage sports car, she cannot hold it any longer. Anyway, he has unbearable attitude, and he declares his celebrated great-great-great-great aunt overrated. Then his car breaks down and they have to complete their journey in sullen silence, with a lift in an apple cart. Although she's a sophisticated, cultivated Left Bank Parisian, Agathe clearly belongs to the tradition of clumsy and awkward female romantic leads, like Rene Zellweger of the first Bridget Jones film, famously inspired by the works of Jane Austen, and a hugely popular series. Of course, the wider the gulf between the romantic couple, the more fun it is. Agathe thinks Oliver is insufferable and arrogant, while he lets her know he finds her underwhelming. Of course, they will despise each other at the start. Think 10 Things I Hate About You. And so continues the never-ending tit-for-tat between the French and the English. No one besides the English themselves are better at sending themselves up, and the same can be said of the French. For both countries, farce is a national sport. Filmed in France, this charming frothy rom-com is the work of French writer-director, Laura Piani. It's a delicious concoction, a contribution to a genre that we barely see on the cinema screen these days, and hope will one day return. A film like Materialists, a rom-com for these digital times that was released last week, is unusual at the cinema these days. And Notting Hill was a very long time ago. Jane Austen died young and wrote anonymously during her lifetime. Yet her six novels were hugely influential and have had a life of their own on screen. You have to wonder what she would have thought of the many films and series made in her name. As a writer fed up with the gothic and exaggerated romanticism in popular literature in her time, she would have liked the humour mixed with realism, even if it couldn't match her incisive, comic insight into the absurdities of ordinary daily life. There is a touching moment at the end of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life that has a serious bit of advice for the wary and the uncertain, when a well-known American documentary filmmaker appears in a cameo, reading a poem about letting life in. It hints at a little more than froth and farce and is a good note to end on.
