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 We
find the 'Kneeling Fauness' in the left half of the tympanum of 'The
Gates of Hell', underneath another female figures later known as 'The
Martyr'.
The juxtaposition of the two women had evolved from the sculptor's urge to
populate his monumental  portal
with a great number of characters, closely flocked together in the chaotic
turmoil of the Inferno; in later years, Rodin
preserved this accidental combination under the title 'Orpheus and the
Furies' - changing the gender of the kneeling figure by decorating it with
a miniature penis. Eventually, the awkward assemblage was eternalized in
marble.
As can easily be recognized, 'Toilette of Venus', or
'Awakening', created around 1885, essentially is a variation of the
'Kneeling Fauness', the head turned to the right and with a more
elegant hair-do.
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Orpheus and the Furies,
plaster, ca. 1884
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Toilette of Venus, ca.
1885. Photo: Haweis & Coles
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Toilette of Venus, ca.
1885. Photo: Haweis & Coles
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Marble version, National
Gallery of Art, Washington
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