AHI101 Writing Analysis: The Age of Bronze by Auguste Rodin

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The Age of Bronze by Auguste Rodin
Introduction
The age of bronze also known as L'Age d'airain was one of the most significant artworks of French artist Auguste Rodin who lived between 1840 and 1977. It was modeled in the year 1876, and the dimensions of the sculpture are 182.9cm and 124.7 kgCITATION Pot00 \p 32 \l 1033 (Potts 32). The sculpture depicted the French culture. Rodin was an extraordinary artist who was so creative and hard working. He used to work in a studio of one of the ornamentlist known as Albert Ernest, and it is during this time when his skills in handling decorative subjects in the 18th century became seenCITATION Els80 \p 13 \l 1033 (Elsen 13). He would then later break new ground in sculpture by coming up with the various methods and techniques that he used in his artistic aesthetics. The Age of Bronze was one of Auguste Rodon's first solo pieces that were exhibited at the Salon in Paris. As part of his work, Auguste did the Age of Bronze, and it shows the natural ability of the artist to capture the character of his models, and also it portrays aspects of movement and feeling in his sculptures.
Historical Background of Age of Bronze
Auguste Rodin started working on the Age of Bronze in 1875 when the major decoration objects that were found in Brussels were coming to completion. He began his work on a male nude after studying a Belgian soldier who was 22 years old. As such, the intention of the Age of Bronze was to capture the demoralization of the soldiers who had fought in the Franco-Prussian War that took place from July 1870 to May 1971CITATION Nel00 \p p.20 \l 1033 (Nelly p.20). The original title that he gave to this work was "The Vanquished" or "Le Vaincu." The original title reflects the intended meaning of the sculpture than the second name of The Age of Bronze CITATION Els80 \p "p. 67" \l 1033 (Elsen p. 67). The Age of Bronze title was awarded to the sculpture after accusations were made that what Rodin made was a cast of a model rather than using carving the sculpture by use of his handCITATION Nel00 \p p.26 \l 1033 (Nelly p.26). Others also criticized the original title, "The Vanquished" as being so anti-French and alleging that it criticized the decision of the government to go into warCITATION Els80 \p p.44 \l 1033 (Elsen p.44). Rodin did not like it since he did not want to appear to be opposing the government given that he wanted to get a commission from the government. He also wanted to overcome his status as a mere worker for 20 years and establish himself as a statuaire.
He then worked on the sculpture for 18 months even though the progress of his work was interrupted by a trip that he took to Italy in February and in March 1876. During his trip to Italy, Rodin admired the work of one of the artists known as Michelangelo, and he was so enthusiastic about it. He finally came back to Brussels and completed the sculpture and presented it to the Cercle ArtistiqueCITATION Pot00 \p 67 \l 1033 (Potts 67).
Composition of the Age of Bronze
The pose of the sculpture was inspired by Michelangelo’s sculpture of the “Dying slave” (1514-16). Just like the work of Michelangelo, it is composed of a console shape with bent knees and ...