St John the Baptist

myminifactory

Like The Age of Bronze, this figure is rendered without the typical attributes that helped define its subject. Only the gesture appears suspended in space, seemingly frozen forever. Rodin himself described how the idea for this figure was born from an encounter with an Italian peasant named Pignatelli, who came to offer his services as a model from the Abruzzi region. "As soon as I saw him," Rodin recalled, "I was filled with admiration; this rugged, hairy man conveyed violence in his posture... yet also the mystical essence of his people." Immediately, he envisioned a Saint John the Baptist – a man of nature, a visionary, a believer, and a precursor announcing one greater than himself. The peasant undressed, climbed onto the revolving stand as if posing for the first time; he planted himself firmly on his feet, head held high, torso straight, distributing his weight evenly between both legs, open like a compass. The movement was so natural, so direct, and so true that Rodin exclaimed: "But it's a man walking!" He then resolved to capture what he had seen in marble.