c. 1880

Study of Nudes with a Putto

French, 1840 - 1917

After returning to Paris from Brussels in 1877, Rodin sometimes worked for the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, who had become the art director of the French porcelain manufactory at Sèvres. Even as he struggled with some of his most ambitious sculptures around 1880, deeply influenced by Michelangelo, Rodin also was called upon to work in a diametrically opposed decorative style. It was a mark of his versatility—and of his practical training in sculpture—that he could turn from his own projects to graceful decorations full of intimate charm.