A rare bronze sculpture by Camille Claudel, lost for over a century before its discovery in an abandoned Paris apartment, sold at auction in France for €3.7 million ($3.8 million)—more than double its pre-sale estimate.
Titled La Jeunesse et L’Age Mûr, or L’Age Mûr (The Age of Maturity), the expressive group of bronze sculptures depicts a man and two women, one aged and guiding him ahead, and the other young and kneeling, as if begging him to return. Claudel created several versions of the scene, which has been interpreted as an allegory for life’s inevitable losses, as well as a personal tragedy that, at the time of its conception, was a fresh wound: the dissolution of Claudel’s relationship with her teacher and lover, Auguste Rodin. Following the breakup, Claudel suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed for psychiatric treatment. With this reading, the older woman may represent her romantic rival Rose Beuret, Rodin’s housekeeper and eventual wife.
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According to the auction house, the bronze was found by Philocale’s auctioneer Matthieu Semont while inventorying the assets of the apartment for its inheritor, though how it came to be forgotten there is still unclear. Claudel’s artistic achievements, however, largely languished in obscurity until the release of a 1988 biopic starring Isabel Adjani and Gerard Depardieu. Her market interest has since risen, with individual pieces typically pricing around $1 million.
Only three other bronze versions of L’Age Mûr are known to exist. The Musée Camille Claudel in Nogent-sur-Seine owns one from the same mould, while two large casts belong to the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée Rodin, respectively.
The bronze sold on Sunday at Philocale, an Orleans auction house, is now the second most-expensive piece by Claudel ever sold. The top record-holder is a single-casting version of La Valse (The Waltz), a bronze dancing couple, sold for £5.1 million at Sotheby’s London in June 2013. In a statement, Semont said that the anonymous buyer of L’Age Mûr, who won the bid via telephone, would be announced to the public later.
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