Titans, Support for a Vase

During his lifetime and afterward, Auguste Rodin was viewed as the modern equivalent to Michelangelo. Rodin worked against the prevailing styles of his time and may have seen parallels between his own struggles and Michelangelo’s reputation in the 1800s as a suffering genius. In 1875 Rodin went to Italy to study Renaissance art, specifically works by Michelangelo. The twisting titans (giants) on this pedestal base are directly inspired by Michelangelo’s ignudi (male nudes) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Rodin did not directly copy the poses but translated the energy and movement of the nudes into new, three-dimensional forms.