A stunning discovery has been made in a vacant Paris apartment: a cast of Camille Claudel’s renowned sculpture, The Age of Maturity (1894). This piece, which is expected to bring in between $1.5 million to $2 million at auction, is an extraordinary find.
If the sculpture—depicting a crouching woman symbolizing ‘Youth’ reaching towards the figure of ‘Middle Age’—sells for the predicted price, it will set a new record for Claudel’s works in France. The miniature bronze sculpture will be auctioned by the Philocale Auction House in Orleans, France, on February 16, 2025.
Claudel’s life may have been marked by struggles, but she is finally receiving the recognition she deserves. Born into a wealthy family in the Aisne region of Northern France, Claudel gained fame during the late 19th century as the student of famed artist Auguste Rodin.
Despite her talent, her work has often been overshadowed by her personal relationship with Rodin. Their decade-long affair, combined with her dependence on his support after their romance ended, kept her in the shadow of her mentor. Although it was difficult for women artists to gain attention in the art world at the time, Claudel’s The Age of Maturity was recommended for purchase by the French government in 1895 by Paul Armand Silvestre, a government art inspector. Unfortunately, the purchase never went through.
Tragically, Claudel passed away in relative obscurity. After the death of her father, the only family member who supported her artistic pursuits, she was confined to a psychiatric institution by her mother and brother.
While Claudel was known to exhibit signs of paranoia and mania, her friend and fellow artist Jessie Lipscomb argued that her supposed illness was exaggerated. Art historian John Walker, in his book Art and Artists On Screen (2010), suggested that Claudel’s struggles were more a result of the art market and its constraints than her mental health.
Her lack of commissions might have been linked to her gender, but Claudel was also drawn to unconventional, experimental art, which set her apart from the more traditional approaches of her contemporaries.
The sculpture The Age of Maturity was discovered covered by a cloth in an apartment that had been empty for over 15 years. This 1989 cast is one of four replicas, with this particular one being the only one not already in a museum’s collection. It was cast by Eugène Blot in 1907, a foundry owner and a passionate supporter of Claudel’s work. Remarkably, this sculpture has not been publicly displayed since 1908.
Since its discovery, the piece has been authenticated by Le Cabinet Lacroix-Jeannest, an organization that has been responsible for authenticating over 20 Claudel works in the past decade.
Claudel’s legacy continues to grow. In 2024 alone, retrospectives of her work were held at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Art Institute of Chicago. She will also be featured in a major exhibition at Berlin’s National Gallery in 2025, further fueling expectations for a successful auction of this remarkable sculpture.
