Episode Details

Auguste Rodin sculpted The Age of Bronze with such anatomical precision that critics accused him of cheating — casting the figure directly from a living model. The accusation was false, but it captured the shock of encountering sculpture that looked more alive than anything since Michelangelo. He spent the rest of his career proving that bronze and marble could breathe.

This episode traces Rodin from his working-class Paris childhood through the scandal of The Age of Bronze, The Thinker, The Kiss, and the Gates of Hell that consumed decades of his life.

• Critics accused him of casting The Age of Bronze directly from a live model because the anatomy was impossibly realistic
• The Thinker was originally part of his monumental Gates of Hell, which he worked on for over thirty years
• The Kiss became one of the most famous sculptures in the world despite being initially dismissed as too erotic
• He was rejected three times from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts before becoming the most celebrated sculptor of his era