''Sakuntala'', also known as ''Sakountala'' or ''Çacountala'', is a sculpture by the French artist

Camille Claudel Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...

, made in several versions in different media from 1886, with a marble version completed in 1905, and bronze castings made from 1905. The sculpture depicts a young couple, with a kneeling man embracing a woman leaning towards him. It was named after the play ''

Shakuntala Shakuntala (Sanskrit: ''Śakuntalā'') is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata. Her story is told in the '' Adi Parva'' of the ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata'' and dramatized by many writers, the most famous adaption be ...

'' by the 4th-5th century Indian poet

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

, and is inspired by the moment when the title character

is reunited with her husband

Dushyanta Dushyanta ( sa, दुष्यन्त, translit=Duṣyanta) is a king of the Chandravamsha (Lunar) dynasty featured in Hindu literature. He is the husband of Shakuntala and the father of Bharata. He appears in the Mahabharata and in Kalid ...

after a long separation. A terracotta study c.1886 is held by the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

in Paris, an 1888 completed plaster version is held by the in

Châteauroux Châteauroux (; ; oc, Chasteurós) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Ch ...

, a marble version completed in 1905 and renamed ''Vertumnus et Pomona'' is held by the

Musée Rodin The Musée Rodin ( en, Rodin Museum) in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as ...

in Paris, and several bronzes were cast for from 1905 entitled ''L'Abandon'' ("The Abandonment"). ''L'Abandon'' has been described as "one of the most famous and recognised masterpieces created by Camille Claudel".

Background

Camille Claudel came to Paris in 1882 to study sculpture. She became a student of Auguste Rodin in 1884, and she became his associate and lover. He eventually refused to marry her, reluctant to end his long-term relationship with

Rose Beuret Rose Beuret, born Marie Rose Beuret on 9 June, 1844 in Vecqueville (Haute-Marne) and died on 14 February, 1917 in Meudon, was a French seamstress and laundress, known to have been one of the muses and, for 53 years, the companion of Auguste R ...

, mother of his son and later his wife. This love triangle, and an abortion in 1892, caused a separation between Claudel and Rodin, but they remained on reasonable terms until 1898, when she moved away and opened her own studio.

Description

Claudel started on the work c.1886, with two designs in terracotta, and a third (now lost) probably in clay or plaster. These terracotta studies were sold in 2017, with one bought by the

in 2017 for €467,800, and the second sold for €65,000. In connection with her early work on the piece, on 8 November 1889 Claudel wrote to her friend Florence Jeans: "I’m now working on my two larger-than-life figures and I have two models per day: a woman in the morning, a man in the evening. You can understand how tired I am: I regularly work 12 hours a day, from 7 in the morning until 7 in the evening, and when I get home, it's impossible for me to remain standing and I go directly to bed." Camille Claudel atelier

The sculpture was one of Claude's first major independent works. She completed a fully realised plaster version of the sculpture in 1888, which became an important milestone in the recognition of Claudel as a talented artist in her own right. The large work measured , and was a critical success when exhibited at the

Salon des Artistes Français The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

in 1888, winning an honourable mention, but no commission to create a bronze or marble version was forthcoming. Rodin, with assistance from

Gustave Geffroy Gustave Geffroy (1 June 1855 – 4 April 1926) was a French journalist, art critic, historian and novelist. He was one of the ten founding members of the literary organisation Académie Goncourt in 1900. Geffroy is noted as one of the first histo ...

, sought a government commission for a marble version of ''Sakuntala'' in 1895, but a commission failed to materialise. Claudel donated the plaster version to the in Châteauroux in 1895. Claudel's plaster sculpture may have been influenced by Rodin's 1882 sculpture '' The Kiss'' (''Le baiser'') and his c.1884 ''

Eternal Springtime ''Eternal Springtime'' (french: L'Éternel Printemps) is a c. 1884 sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, depicting a pair of lovers. It was created at the same time as '' The Gates of Hell'' and originally intended to be part of it. ...

'' (''L'Éternel Printemps''), but in turn it inspired Rodin's 1890-93 sculpture ''The Eternal Idol'' (''L'Eternelle idole''), and there are further echoes in his 1889 ''L'homme et sa pensée''. Her brother Paul was particularly annoyed at any comparison with ''The Kiss'' as he considered ''Sakuntala'' to be far superior. In a 1988 biography of Rodin, Claudel's brother

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early l ...

was quoted as saying, "In my sister's group, spirit is of the essence: the man on his knees; he is pure desire, his face lifted, yearning, clasping that which he does not dare to seize, this marvellous being, this sacred flesh which, at some higher level, has been bestowed on him. She yields, blind, mute, weighted down, succumbing to the gravity that is love; one of her arms hangs down like a branch broken by its fruit, the other covers her breasts and protects this heart, the supreme sanctuary of virginity. It is impossible to imagine anything more ardent and at the same time more chaste". Years later, Claudel was commissioned to create a smaller marble version of the sculpture by the Comtesse de Maigret, the wife of , whose bust Claudel had made in 1899. The completed sculpture, in white marble on red marble base, was completed in 1905 and measures . It was retitled ''Vertumnus and Pomona'', referring to the characters from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

Pomona Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa * Pomona, New South Wales, Australia Belize * Pomona, Belize, a municipality in Stann Creek District Mexico ...

and

Vertumnus In Roman mythology, Vertumnus (; also Vortumnus or Vertimnus) is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' (xiv) ...

, whose tale is recounted in

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

''. In 1952,

donated this marble sculpture to the

. Also in 1905, bronze versions were cast for , with one cast shown the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...

in 1905 entitled ''L'Abandon''. Blot exhibited a cast in December 1905 alongside other Claudel works that Blot had cast in bronze, including her ''Entreaty'' in two sizes, ''

Perseus and the Gorgon ''Perseus and the Gorgon'' is a 1902 monumental sculpture by Camille Claudel that portrays a scene from Greek mythology. The artist sculpted her own likeness for Medusa's face, in anger after the break-up of her romantic partnership with sculp ...

'', ''Dream by the Fire'', ''Fortune'', ''Intimacy'', ''The Old Woman'', ''The Mermaid'', ''

The Waltz ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' and ''The Gossips''. Blot intended to make and sell dozens of copies, with a planned edition of 25 large casts (of which only 18 numbered casts were made up to 1937) and 50 small casts (of which 14 are known). More casts were made later by the Valduani and Delval foundries. One of the large bronze casts (#8) was acquired by the French state in 1907 and assigned to the . One of the large bronze casts (#2) was sold at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, t ...

in 2013 for £1,071,650, and another (#15) was put up for sale

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in 2014. A third large bronze of ''L’Abandon'' from the private collection of Camille's sister,

Louise Claudel Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

, was sold for €1,187,000 at

Artcurial Artcurial is a French auction house which has its headquarters at the historic Hôtel Marcel Dassault in Paris. History In 2001, Nicolas Orlowski acquired the Artcurial Gallery from L'Oréal.Béatrice De RochebouetNicolas Orlowski, monsieur A ...

in Paris in 2017, in the same sale as the two c.1886 terracotta studies. One of the smaller casts (#2) was acquired by the

Musée Camille Claudel The Musée Camille Claudel is a French national museum which honors and exhibits the art of sculptor Camille Claudel. The museum displays approximately half of Claudel's existing artwork. The Claudel museum was opened in 2017 in her teenage home to ...

in 2008. File:Sakountala, étude, vers 1886, terre cuite, Camille Claudel (2).jpg, Terracotta study, c.1886 File:Camille Claudel.- Etudes (1).jpg, Teracotta study, c.1886, exhibited at

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th centur ...

File:Sakuntala, de Camille Claudel, original en plâtre, Musée Bertrand.jpg, Plaster original, 1888, Musée Bertrand File:Camille Claudel.- Sakountala, dite Vertumne et Pomone, 1905, marbre (2).jpg, ''Vertumnus and Pomona'', marble, 1905, Musée Rodin File:Cacountala ou l'abandon Camille Claudel 1888 - 01.jpg, ''L’Abandon'', 1905, Musée de Cambrai File:The Kiss.JPG, Rodin, '' The Kiss'', 1882 File:105 La eterna primavera.jpg, Rodin, ''

'', c. 1884 File:Marble sculpture - Rodin.jpg, Rodin, ''L'Eternelle idole'', marble, Musée Rodin, 1890-1893

References

{{Shakuntala Sculptures by Camille Claudel Sculptures of the Musée Rodin 1886 sculptures 1905 sculptures Marble sculptures in France Bronze sculptures in France Works based on Shakuntala (play) Sculptures based on literature