Auguste Rodin
Rodin was born in Paris to a working class family in 1840. Early on, he demonstrated a talent for drawing and mathematics in the Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine. Excelling there he was encouraged to apply to the Ecole des Beaux Arts but was rejected three times. He supported himself working as an ornamental mason. When Rodin was 23 his sister died and, overwhelmed with grief, he entered the monastery of the Eudistes in the Faubourg St. Jacques. After six months he returned home and soon after met Rose Beuret who was to remain his partner for life.
In 1864 Rodin studied under Antoine-Louis Barye and worked in the studio of Carrier-Belleuse where he remained for six years. One of his first works was the now famous Man with the Broken Nose (1864). Rodin was in the National Guard during the siege of Paris but was deemed unfit for service and instead travelled to Belgium with Carrier-Belleuse in 1871. After a disagreement with the French artist, Rodin joined the Belgian sculptor Van Rasburg. In 1875 Rodin studied the works of Donatello and Michelangelo in Italy; both artists were to prove major influences on Rodin’s work.
Rodin achieved both success and controversy with Man Awakening to Nature and the Age of Brass (1876), soon followed by St. John the Baptist Preaching (1878). After a tour around the cathedrals of France, Rodin embarked on Gate of Hell for the future Museum of Decorative Arts. Despite labouring at this work for more than 20 years it remained incomplete at his death in 1917.