Before 1908 (sketch), posthumous cast, probably 1920s. Bronze, brown patinated, on an octogonal marble base (min. rep.). Bronze: H. 36 cm, base: H. 8,5 cm. below the back of Nereid's left leg: A. Rodin, on the section of Nereid's right knee cap: AR. The mythological group is closely related to the sculptor's Minotaur group. The multiple views and extreme torsion of the two closely intertwined figures show Rodin's interest in the Mannerist conception of the figure, the aspect of the 'unfinished' in various parts reveals his influence by Michelangelo's late work.- Only a few further versions in bronze are known: Dresden, Skulpturensammlung der Staatl. Kunstsammlungen; Leipzig, Museum der Bildenden Künste; Glauchau, Museum Schloss Hinterglauchau; Wellesley, Massachusetts, Davis Museum and Cultural Centre. Sketch in terracotta (ca. 1886-93): New York, Metropolitan Museum, sketch in plaster (before 1907): Paris, Musée Rodin - Literature: Exh. Cat. Auguste Rodin : Plastik, Zeichnungen, Graphik / Beitr. von Peter H. Feist Red.: Claude Keisch, Berlin, Staatl. Museen DDR, 1979, cat. no. 22; A. Le Normand-Romain: catalogue des Oeuvres conservées au Musée Rodin, 2 volumes, Paris, 2007, p. 525, 576, 693 - Provenance: Private property Hamburg since the end of the 1950s/beginning of the 1960s - Auguste Rodin is considered a pioneer of modern sculpture. As he initially tried in vain to be accepted to study sculpture at the École nationale supérieure des beaux arts de Paris, he continued his artistic training as an autodidact. In 1864 he became a pupil of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and followed his master to Brussels, from whom, however, he parted company again after heated disagreements on artistic matters. In 1875/76 he went on a study trip to Rome, where he was deeply influenced by Michelangelo's work. In 1894 he settled in Meudon and in 1907 opened another studio in Paris, which can be visited today as the Musée Rodin. - Rodin's essential stylistic feature is the unfinished, the 'non-finito', with which he clearly set himself apart from the academicism of his time and opened up new forms of representation for sculpture. Mus.: Paris, Musée Rodin, Musée d'Orsay; New York, Metropolitan Museum; Chicago, Art Institute; Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie; Dresden, Staatl. Kunstsammlungen; München, Neue Pinakothek etc.