Thomas Fortune Ryan

1890s–1900s

Young sculptors in Rodin's studio

His income let him hire gifted young sculptors, among them Antoine Bourdelle, Charles Despiau, Jules Desbois, François Pompon and Aristide Maillol. Constantin Brancusi left after two months, convinced that nothing grows under a big tree.

1900s

Portraits of the famous and the rich

Rodin began to receive regular commissions for portraits; his clients included Bernard Shaw, Gustav Mahler, Georges Clemenceau, the Argentine president Sarmiento, the chemist Berthelot and the philanthropist Bertha Palmer. Clemenceau was displeased: he thought the portrait looked like a “Mongol general”.

1904–1912

An affair with the Marquise de Choiseul

The ageing Rodin's infatuations were brief, except for his affair with the French-American Marquise (later Duchess) de Choiseul, which lasted from 1904 to 1912. Later he called her an “evil genius” on whom he had spent seven years of his life.

1907 · Award

Honorary doctor of the University of Oxford

1908

Moves into the Hôtel Biron

Rilke invited Rodin to the eighteenth-century mansion where he rented rooms; Rodin liked it so much that he took the ground floor, moved his studio there and lived there for his last years.

16 May 1910 · Award

Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour