Avarice and Lust

Avarice and Lust is a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, conceived between 1885-1887, representing two of the seven capital sins and is part of his sculptural group The Gates of Hell,[1] where it can be found in the lower part of the right door.[2] It's possible that the name was inspired by Victor Hugo's poem After reading Dante:[1]

Et la luxure immonde, et l'avarice infâme,
Tous les manteaux de plomb dont peut se charger l'âme![3]

And filthy lust, and shameful greed:
Leaden cloaks, all, that weigh down the soul![4]

—Victor Hugo, from Les Voix intérieures —James Johnson
Avarice and Lust
French: La luxure et l'avarice
ArtistAuguste Rodin
Year1885 (1885)
Typesculpture
MediumBronze
LocationMuseo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires,  Argentina

The piece is made of several parts: the torso of a falling man, whose extremely long arms encircle a woman who is partially covering her face, while he is reaching for some coins. He represents greed. His body is made up with the torso from The Falling Man, with the arms in a different position, a new head and hair.[2] Lust is represented with the female figure offering her body, based on an 1888 drawing by Rodin, titled Skeleton embracing a woman.[5]

References
  1. Museo Soumaya (2015). La puerta del Infierno [The Gates of Hell] (1st ed.). Fundacion Carlos Slim. pp. 322–325. ISBN 978-607-7805-18-2.
  2. Elsen, Albert Edward; Jamison, Rosalyn Frankel (2003). Bernard Barryte (ed.). Rodin's Art: the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Collection at Stanford University. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. pp. 253–256. ISBN 0195133811.
  3. Hugo, Victor (1909). "Après une lecture de Dante" [After a lecture of Dante]. Wikisource (in French). Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  4. Johnson, James (Spring 2007). "After reading Dante" (PDF). Pusteblume. Boston University / Pen & Anvil Press. 1: 11. ISSN 1559-7164. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  5. Musée Rodin. "L'avarice et la Luxure". Musée Rodin, official website. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
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