  About the Artwork
  
  
  The vigorously modeled surfaces and powerful Michelangelesque figures on this vase speak to the collaboration between Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824–1887) and his assistant Auguste Rodin. The younger sculptor entered the workshop of Carrier-Belleuse in 1864 as a modeler of decorative figures. Their collaboration ended in 1872, and Rodin left for Italy in 1876 to study Italian mannerist art, particularly the works of Michelangelo. Upon returning to Paris in 1877, Rodin once more worked with Carrier-Belleuse and his son Victor Louis, who headed the ceramic manufactory at Choisy-le-Roi, just outside of Paris. This vase dates to this later period of collaboration.  Although the Vase of the Titans bears the signature of Carrier-Belleuse, the four figures on the plinth and the overall modeling are universally considered the work of Rodin who emulated Michelangelo. This vase is one of a handful of surviving examples from its original edition of seven.
  
  
  Title
  Vase of the Titans
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1877 and 1879
  
  
  
  
  Makers
  
  
  Auguste Rodin  (Artist)
  French, 1840-1917
  Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse  (Designer)
  French, 1824-1887
  
  
  
  Medium
  Glazed polychromed terracotta
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 28 3/8 × 19 3/4 × 19 3/4 inches (72.1 × 50.2 × 50.2 cm)
  Weight: 52 lbs
  
  
  Classification
  Ceramics
  
  
  Department
  European Modern Art to 1970
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2003.32
  
  
  Copyright
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