Existing comment:
Christ and Mary Magdalene, 1908
Auguste Rodin
Rodin called this group Christ and Mary Magdalene but also The Genius and Pity and Promotheus and the Oceanid. These themes, mixing the sacred and the profane, relate to Rodin's conception of the creative life, which in his view inevitably involved suffering and martyrdom. Karl Wittgenstein (German, 1847-1913); father of the famous philosopher Ludwig and pianist Paul) commissioned this marble for his private collection in Vienna. One of the richest industrialists of his time, Wittgenstein was a significant patron of the arts and also owned paintings by Gustav Klimt. Unlike most of Rodin's works, this group was never cast in bronze and only one other marble version exists, in the Tyssen-Bornemisza collection in Madrid. |