The Golden Age

Auguste Rodin

1871–78 · Black chalk heightened with white on faded blue paper · Drawings and Prints

Although Rodin rarely made drawings with this level of finish in preparation for his sculptural projects, the staging of the figural group on a pedestal-like platform suggests a close relationship with sculpture. It is similar in style to the decorative sculptures he made in the 1870s while working in the Paris and Brussels studios of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. The title refers to the first of the successive ages of humanity according to Greek mythology—a time of youthfulness and harmony in contrast to the violent Age of Bronze, the subject of Rodin’s first important full-length sculpture.

Artist

Auguste Rodin

Date

1871–78

Medium

Black chalk heightened with white on faded blue paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1963