Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

Sotheby's London, 12 December 2018, lot 22;
Private collection, Germany

Auguste Rodin joined the workshop of Carrier-Belleuse in 1864. The strong, muscular and sinuous legs of the Hercules figure seen in Deux Bacchantes et un Hercule portant un vase are reminiscent of the legs in Carrier-Belleuse's Vase of the Titans (version of c. 1876-8; London, V&A).  Although the Vase of the Titans is signed by Carrier-Belleuse, it is generally accepted that the figures were modelled by Rodin and based on the drawings of the master. The present vase group was likely a collaboration between Carrier and Rodin after Rodin's trip to Italy in 1875. It exhibits the Michelangelesque modelling which so much influenced Rodin's work after this visit. This style is distinguished from the more formal modelling he did earlier in his career under the direction of Carrier-Belleuse, such as the Innocence Tormented by Love, a work on which it is known he collaborated. 

RELATED LITERATURE
H. Janson, 'Rodin and Carrier-Belleuse: the Vase of the Titans', The Art Bulletin, vol. L, 1968, pp. 278-280