Elegies of Love, by Ovid, illustrated by Auguste Rodin
Elegies of Love, by Ovid, illustrated by Auguste Rodin
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Paperback – 205 x 134 mm – 64 pages
Thirty-two line drawings
ISBN 9781843681632
Never reprinted since their first, posthumous appearance in 1935, these woodcuts were the only printed versions of Rodin’s work to receive his full approval.
Mostly self-educated, Auguste Rodin was a passionate re-reader of his favourite books, and Ovid’s Love Elegies occupied a special place in his imagination. These woodcut illustrations were taken from the astonishingly free and improvisatory life drawings he made in his later years. For many people these are the most entrancing manifestation of his genius. Privately published in 1939 in a strictly limited edition, these 31 beautiful images are very rarely seen.
This edition marries Rodin’s illustrations to Christopher Marlowe’s glittering translation, which was ceremonially burnt by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1599.