The Athlete (Rodin)

The Athlete is a 1901-1904 black-patina bronze sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin It measures 39,4 × 27,5 × 24,3 cm.

Development

The model for it was Samuel Stockton White III, a member of the gymnastics teams at Princeton University and the University of Cambridge. White recalled:

Similar works

During the same period Rodin also produced The American Athlete, with more exaggerated musculature and its head turned to the right. He presented both works to their model. Despite several variants, they are both lesser-known works of Rodin.
Another version of this bronze called "The Athlete", with the head turned to the left, is preserved at The Kreeger Museum in Washington D.C. It measures 18 x 13 x 12 1/2 inches.