August Rodin
August Rodin, (1840-1917). French sculptor. After failing to get into the School of Fine Arts in Paris, Rodin worked as an ornamental mason. The extreme realism of his first important sculpture, The Age of Bronze (1878) caused a sensation. In 1880 he received a com-mission for The Gates of Hell, a huge sculpture containing over 200 figures; although this was never completed, many of his most famous works, such as The Thinker and The Kiss, were derived from it. His other works include The Burghers of Calais (1886), a copy of which is in the Embankment Gardens at West-minster.
