{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O135946"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O135946/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY0028/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY0028/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AY0028","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9983","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9958","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9942","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9941","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9940","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9922","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9906","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9875","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX9852","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O135946/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O135946","accessionNumber":"A.35-1914","objectType":"Statue","titles":[{"title":"Cybele","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This was one of the first of Rodin's truncated, partial figures or 'fragments' to be shown as sculpture in its own right, rather than as an incomplete study. Inspired in part by damaged classical sculpture and incomplete work by Michelangelo, which he had studied in the Louvre and in Italy, these partial figures held great significance for the development of sculpture in the 20th century, influencing a number of sculptors including Henry Moore.\r\nThe model for this figure was Anna Abbruzzesi, a well-known model whom Rodin admired. It first appeared with a head as part of the third maquette (study) for the monument to Victor Hugo. A small version of the figure was originally conceived for The Gates of Hell, the bronze portal and doors for the new Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, which Rodin was asked to design in 1880. The enlarged plaster version, exhibited as 'une figure' in the 1905 Salon, was the work of Rodin's trusted assistant Henri Lebossé. This bronze is the only cast made in Rodin's lifetime. It was produced specially for an exhibition of contemporary French art at Grosvenor House in London in 1914 where it was called 'Cybele', the ancient Greek goddess of the earth, and it was presented by Rodin to the V&A later that year.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Rodin, Auguste","id":"A6634"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Alexis Rudier","id":"A14414"},"association":{"text":"Foundry","id":"AAT25260"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AY0028","2006AX9983","2006AX9958","2006AX9942","2006AX9941","2006AX9940","2006AX9922","2006AX9906","2006AX9875","2006AX9852"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"21 (VA)","id":"THES49848"},"free":"","case":"FS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statue","id":"AAT47600"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1904- ca. 1905","earliest":"1899-01-01","latest":"1909-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Rodin in November 1914","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"161.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"A. Rodin","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the right side of the base"},{"content":"Alexis Rudier/Fondeur, Paris","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the back of the base"}],"objectHistory":"Given by Rodin in November 1914","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Statue, Cybele, by Auguste Rodin, bronze, French, ca. 1904-5","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hawkins, Jennifer, <font -u>Rodin Sculptures</font>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1975, p. 19, ills. 6 and 7."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Potts, Alex, <font -u>The Sculptural Imagination</font>, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2000, p. 91, ills. 43 and 44 - plaster version"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Alley, R. <font -u>Tate Gallery Catalogue: Foreign Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture.</font> London, 1959. pp. 212-213."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Antoinette, Le Normand-Romain. <font -u>The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin.</font> London : Lund Humphries ; Paris : Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2007. pp. 279-281."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Cybele","id":"N209"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)\r\n<i>Cybele</i>\r\nAbout 1904–05\n\r\nCybele was one of Rodin’s first truncated figures, or ‘fragments’, to be shown as a sculpture in its own right. Inspired partly by his admiration of damaged classical statues, these figures were significant to 20th-century sculpture, encouraging sculptors of the time to explore the human body in a more abstract, conceptual way.\r\n\nParis\r\nBronze, cast by Alexis Rudier","date":{"text":"2021","earliest":"2021-01-01","latest":"2021-12-31"}},{"text":"This sculpture represents Cybele, an ancient Greek goddess of the earth. Rodin originally included a smaller version of this figure in 1889 for the 'Gates of Hell', a project which was never brought to fruition in the artist's lifetime, although many models and studies connected with it wee carried out. This enlargement was probably made in about 1904-5, when he showed a larger version of his famous figure 'The Thinker', also from the 'Gates of Hell'. The rough and apparently unfinished surface of the bronze, as well as the fragmentary nature of the piece considerably influenced later sculptors, such as Gaudier-Brzeska and Brancusi.","date":{"text":"March 2006","earliest":"2006-03-01","latest":"2006-03-31"}},{"text":"This figure was one of the first of Rodin's truncated figures, or 'fragments', to be shown as a sculpture in its own right. Inspired partly by his admiration of damaged classical sculpture, these figures were significant for 20th-century sculpture, encouraging artists such as Henry Moore to explore the human body in a more abstract, conceptual way.","date":{"text":"June 2007","earliest":"2007-06-01","latest":"2007-06-30"}}],"partNumbers":["A.35-1914"],"accessionNumberNum":"35","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1914,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LW4201"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2007-06-05","availableToBook":false}}