Head of Saint John the Baptist (Rodin)

Sculpture by Auguste Rodin

Head of Saint John the Baptist

The Severed Head

Artist| Auguste Rodin
Year| 1887 (1887)
Type| Sculpture
Medium| Marble
Subject| John the Baptist
Dimensions| 23.9 cm × 39 cm × 31.1 cm (9.4 in × 15.3 in × 12.2 in)
Location| Museo Soumaya, Mexico City

Head of Saint John the Baptist is a marble sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, sculpted in 1887 as part of a series of sculptures based on his Saint John the Baptist, exhibited for the first time in 1880 with great acceptance and recognition from critics.[1]

## Design

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In this sculpture, Rodin decides not to present the fragment as a bust, the most obvious choice, but to set the head on its side on a baptismal font in order to establish a greater reference to the biblical account of John the Baptist and to separate it from the rest of the fragment that would later be nicknamed The Walking Man, which had been stripped of all religious tendencies.

After Rodin decides to separate the sculpture based on the strong criticism it received,[2] he realizes that he can imbue gestures in several discrete instants beginning with the separation of the head from the rest of the body; some authors have cited this as one of several examples of Rodin's achievement of stopping time as a counter-statement to the usage of photography in gestures.[3]

## See also

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* List of sculptures by Auguste Rodin

## References

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1. ^ Museo Soumaya (2015). Museo Soumaya catalog (in Spanish). Vol. II. Fundación Carlos Slim. ISBN 9786077805137.
2. ^ Jarrassé, Dominique (2001). Rodin (in Spanish). Lisma. p. 46.
3. ^ Fayard, Jeanne (1990). Rodin, una vida apasionada [Rodin, a passionate life] (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: ESPASA-CALPE. pp. 87–89.

## External links

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* Media related to Head of Saint John the Baptist by Auguste Rodin at Wikimedia Commons

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Auguste Rodin

Works|

* List of sculptures
* Man with the Broken Nose (1863)
* Alsatian Orphan (1871)
* Suzon (1872–73)
* The Age of Bronze (1876)
* La Defense (1879)
* The Maiden Kissed by the Ghost (1880)
* The Shade (1880)
* The Gates of Hell (1880/1917)
* The Thinker (1880, locations)
* Adam (1880–81)
* Eve (1881)
* Crouching Woman (1880–1882)
* Saint John the Baptist (1880/1907)
* Ugolino and His Sons (1881)
* The Kiss (1882)
* I Am Beautiful (1882)
* The Falling Man (1882)
* Jules Dalou (1883)
* Bust of Maurice Haquette (1883)
* Bust of Victor Hugo (1883)
* Eternal Springtime (1884)
* Torso of Adele (c. 1884)
* The Burghers of Calais (1884–1889)
* Head of Camille Claudel (1884/1911)
* The Prodigal Son (1885)
* Mask of a Weeping Woman (1885)
* The Martyr (1885)
* Psyche Looking at Love (1885)
* Eustache de Saint Pierre (1885–86)
* Jean d'Aire (1885–86)
* Jean de Fiennes (1885–86)
* Avarice and Lust (1885–1887)
* Damned Women (1885–1890)
* The Old Tree (1885)
* Paolo and Francesca (1885)
* Young Mother (1885)
* Young Mother in the Grotto (1885)
* Young Woman with a Serpent (c. 1885)
* The Three Shades (1886)
* Meditation (1886)
* Fugitive Love (1886–87)
* Ovid's Metamorphoses (1886–1889)
* Pierre de Wiessant (1887)
* Head of Saint John the Baptist (1887)
* The Sirens (1887)
* Polyphemus (1888)
* Standing Mercury (1888)
* The Kneeling Man (1888)
* Adonis Awakens (1889)
* Andromeda (1889)
* Glaucus (1889)
* Kneeling Female Faun (1889)
* The Succubus (1889)
* Despair (c. 1890)
* Brother and Sister (1890)
* Danaid (1890)
* Cybele (1890/1904)
* Monument to Balzac (1892–1897)
* Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk (1892)
* Youth Triumphant (c. 1894)
* Octave Mirdeau (1895)
* Iris, Messenger of the Gods (c. 1895)
* Bacchantes Embracing (c. 1896)
* The Spirit of Eternal Repose (1898–99)
* Illusions Received by the Earth (pre-1900)
* The Athlete (1901–1904)
* The Death of Adonis (1903–1906)
* Adam and Eve (1905)
* The Walking Man (1907)
* The Cathedral (1908)
* The Prayer (1909)
* Standing Female Faun (1910)

Museums|

* Musée Rodin (Hôtel Biron), Paris
* Rodin Museum, Philadelphia
* Museu Rodin Bahia, Salvador
* Plateau (closed)

People|

* Camille Claudel

Depictions|

* 1888–89 Claudel bust
* 1909 Bourdelle bust
* Rodin — The Thinker (1902 photograph)
* Camille Claudel (1988 film)
* Camille Claudel (2003 musical)
* Camille Claudel 1915 (2013 film)
* Rodin (2017 film)

Related|

* Rodin (crater)

* Category
* Commons

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