‘[Madame Morla Vicuña] evokes the woman of today, the discretion of a society’s figure’s face, the physical lightness of an energetic, living creature. [...] Through the inexplicable delicacy of his touch, seems to have also shown the warmth of the breasts, the moist, slightly protruding mouth and the gentle downward gaze between her long and narrow eyes.’
Gustave Geffroy, quoted in Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of the Works in the Musée Rodin, vol. 2, Paris, 2007, p. 528)

Auguste Rodin’s Madame Morla Vicuña was first conceived in 1887, and the present example cast in 1917, the year of the artist’s death. According to Jêrome Le Blay, the expert on Rodin, it is likely that the present sculpture was gifted to Eva Ungemach Bénédite by Léonce Bénédite, the executor of Rodin’s will, and Eva’s father.

Fig. 1, Auguste Rodin, Madame Morla Vicuña, 1887, marble, Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Luisa Morla Vicuña was the wife of Chilean journalist and diplomat Carlos Morla y Vicuña. Appointed secretary of the Chilean Legation in France and Great Britain in 1871, he was in residence in Paris in 1885. Rodin paid frequent visits to the Chilean Embassy in which the Morla family resided after his first encounter with Luisa at a costume party. Her son, Carlos, later recalled, ‘He met my mother one memorable costume ball given by the well-known-millionaire Chernusky… Amidst the motely party-goers, scintillating lights, sumptuous costumes, and shimmering colours, the austere simplicity of this foreign lady, whose slender neck and delicate head emerged out of swathes of dark tulle, could not fail to catch the great maestro Rodin’s eye.’ (Carlos Morla, "Devant le buste de ma mère (œuvre de Rodin)" in La Revue du Chili, no. 2, July 1928, n.p.)

There are two different versions of the Madame Morla Vicuña sculpture. The first, used as the foundry model, which was cut along the neckline; the second, a unique plaster cast. In this version, the facial expression is more enigmatic, and the neckline more plunging.

Fig. 2, Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge. Image: North Jersey History and Genealogy Center, The Morristown and Morris Township Library

The remarkable provenance of the present work testifies to Rodin’s ability to capture facial expression. Acquired by Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge (1882-1973) together with another three bronzes by Rodin offered in our March 2025 London Sales, Madame Morla Vicuña formed part of Mrs Dodge’s collection, an eminent American philanthropist and benefactor to a wide number of causes including the visual arts, charity and natural resources conservation. Mrs Dodge was also passionate about animal welfare and founded the Morris and Essex Kennel Club and its internationally recognised annual dog show, which for decades was considered among the most prestigious in the United States and lauded for promoting responsible dog breeding and ownership.

In 1961, Mrs Dodge gifted her large collection of paintings and sculptures, including the four Rodin bronzes, to an important American institution – with whom the works have remained until present day – in the hopes that its visitors and staff would ‘receive the same benefit and enjoyment from these objects’ as she had ‘been privileged to receive’.