A masterpiece by Camille Claudel, “Old Age,” was discovered by chance in an orphaned apartment

Camille Claudel's autobiographical work "Mature Age" (L'Âge mûr), from the late nineteenth century, was completed shortly after the sculptor's separation from Auguste Rodin.

Three copies of it are in three museums. One copy is in the Musée d'Orsay, another copy in the Musée Rodin, and a third copy in the Musée Camille Claudel. And now, in miraculous circumstances, a fourth copy has been discovered in an abandoned apartment at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The discovery of the additional copy is a miracle. A sensation in the art world. The appraiser who discovered it bought his world. He never imagined that he would stumble upon one of the greatest works of the beloved and admired sculptor. More than a century has passed since contact was lost with this model, cast in 1907 by Eugène Blot, a gallery owner in Paris, and exhibited by him that year and the following year.

This article will tell about the event and present the work consisting of two parts, a young woman on her knees and an elderly couple in front of her, which Cami Claudel put together.

Discovery of the copy “Old Age” in an orphaned apartment

For fifteen years, an apartment whose owner had died remained at my feet. Eiffel Tower Closed and abandoned. The heir who lived in the city of Orleans completely neglected the property he received. The electricity was cut off, the dust accumulated.

Then, after fifteen years, the heir decided to determine the value of the property and to that end, on September 17 of last year, 2024, a team of two professionals, a notary and an art appraiser, arrived at the apartment. Matthieu Semont, the appraiser, is accustomed to valuing works of art. Every day, he takes inventories of inherited apartments whose owners have passed away.

Therefore, when he entered the apartment at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, he did not expect such a surprise. The apartment was dark and dusty. He entered equipped with a flashlight and looked around. When he moved a sheet over a statue that stood on his bedside table, he immediately recognized Camus Claudel’s “Old Age.” It was enough to expose one end of the work, the part called “The Beggar,” for him to be overcome with excitement. Twenty-five years ago, when he was twenty-four, he had studied the sculpture when he participated in the sale of a copy of “The Beggar,” as a separate work, without the pair. His eyes filled with tears. More than a discovery, it was a meeting.

The quality of the copy, in bronze, traces of which have been lost for more than a century, is astonishingly high. It was the first to be cast while the mold was still perfect – the number 1 is stamped at the feet of the “supplicant”. The copy also bears the foundry stamp of Eugène Blot and the inscription “C. Claudel”. Its dimensions are 61,5 cm x 85 cm x 37,5 cm. It was exhibited and sold in 1908 by Eugène Blot, a loyal friend of Camus, a gallery owner and influential art dealer.

By November 2017, seventeen works by Camus-Claudel had sold for more than three times their starting price. The work “Sakuntala” (1886), for example, sold for one million one hundred and eighty-seven euros.

The copy discovered in the orphaned apartment is estimated at two million to two and a half million euros. At what price will it be sold? Who will win it?

In the short video below, you will see the art appraiser next to the work he discovered:

The copy sold for more than three and a half million euros.

The copy in question was offered by the Philocale auction house, which belongs to the art appraiser who discovered it, in the prestigious concert hall of the Conservatory (la Salle de l'Institut) in Orléans, the heir's city of residence, on February 16 of this year, 2025.

This was the sale of the year. For twenty minutes, five potential buyers competed to purchase the work, and in the end, the winner was the one who paid three million six hundred and sixty-three thousand euros for it!

If we subtract the commission received by the auction house, the amount stands at three million one hundred thousand euros. That is also a considerable sum.

Only one work by Camille Claudel has sold for a higher price: for “The Waltz,” in its first version, Sotheby’s received around six million euros at an auction held in London in 2013.

The Waltz. Image source: Wikiart

Let's return to Orléans, a dozen years later. The excitement in the magnificent hall of the Conservatory, where three hundred and forty spectators were seated, besides the media, journalists and photographers, was great. It was an unforgettable moment.

The identity of the buyer of the work has not been disclosed to the general public, as the art appraiser has pledged to maintain confidentiality unless the buyer decides to reveal himself.

The meaning of the work “Old Age”

The masterpiece “Old Age” (L'Âge mûr) depicts an old man walking, who is pulled towards the old woman by a woman almost his age, wrapping her arms around him while a young woman, on the other side, tries unsuccessfully to stop him. This is human destiny, the sculptural work says, to walk towards the old woman without being able to rebel.

This meaning is evidenced by the other names of the work:

La Destinée, Le Chemin de la vie, La Fatalité

Fate, the path of life, fatum (synonym for destiny, that which cannot be prevented)

This symbolist work by Camille Claudel is very famous and received attention even during the genius sculptor's lifetime. On July 25, 1895, Camille Claudel received an order from the authorities to make a plaster version of the work. Not yet an order for a marble version, but, nevertheless, an official recognition of her talent.

The name of the work, “Mature Age”, in French: L'Âge mûr, literal translation: “The Mature Age”, refers to that stage of life, maturity, before old age. Menopause or middle age when it comes to men. The man in the group of sculptures symbolizes this period of life, the woman on her knees symbolizes youth and the second woman symbolizes old age.

Beyond the symbolist intention, and this is indeed a symbolist work, lies the anecdotal-narrative aspect, Camus's personal tragedy. The design of the three figures in a diagonal line expresses a fracture, a disconnection. After fourteen years of romantic relationship, crazy passion, Camus decided to end her relationship with her sculpture teacher, Auguste Rodin. After he refused to meet the conditions she had set for him, namely an exclusive relationship with her, she decided on the dramatic step of complete separation. No more sculpting work together, no more romantic relationship.

Auguste Rodin could not part with the wife of his youth, Rose Beuret, even though he loved Camus. The three sculpted figures are Camus, Rodin, and Rose. Rodin is drawn to Rose and removes his hand from Camus. The emptiness between the two hands, Rodin's and Camus's, expresses more than the fullness. The young woman is on her knees, begging the man to stay with her, but he is already turning his back on her.

Camus completed the work in 1898, three years after breaking off her professional and romantic relationship with Rodin. He never ceased to love Camus. When he discovered the figure of the young woman on her knees at the pourer Eugène Bleu, he wept.

History of the work: “The Beggar” preceded “Old Age”

The beginning of the work “Old Age” is in the work “The Beggar”. From 1892 to 1894 Camus sculpted a young woman on her knees, first in terracotta and then in plaster. The different versions are all drafts of the bronze version of “The Beggar”. The attempts in terracotta and plaster show a young woman begging on her knees, her hands spread in the air, in emptiness. Camus presents herself after the breakup with Rodin. 

She called these drafts “The Disappeared God” (Le Dieu envolé), an allusion to the story of Psyche and Cupid from Roman mythology. Psyche lit a lamp, despite the prohibition, to recognize her lover Cupid, and then the god flew away and disappeared.

The Invisible God. Image source: Wikiart

In 2021, the Camus-Claudel Museum acquired a plaster version of the sculpture “The Disappeared God” (Le Dieu envolé) from an unknown owner for three hundred thousand euros. In the sculpture, Camus presents herself after her separation from Rodin as a young woman on her knees, her hands spread in the air, in emptiness. Her rounded belly suggests, perhaps, pregnancy.

The statue was cracked here and there and was beautifully restored by a restorer who came from Paris. From 1892 to 1894, Camus sculpted several versions of “The Invisible God” in terracotta and plaster. The copy acquired by the Camus-Claudel Museum is one of these attempts and dates from 1895.

In this link You can see the plaster model, which is displayed at the Camille Claudel Museum.

In 1894, Camus sculpted the first version in bronze. The terracotta and plaster versions were, as mentioned, drafts of the bronze version. Camus lengthened the initial sculpture and tilted it forward. This is the version called “The Supplicant” (L'Implorante).

Camus then added the man and woman to the supplicating figure. The supplicant's body, leaning forward, integrates into the diagonal line of the entire work. Thus was born in 1898 the masterpiece "Mature Age" (L'Âge mûr), famous throughout the world.

The complete work, the group of three figures, “Old Age,” was commissioned by the “National Society of Fine Arts” (La Société Nationale des beaux-arts) and exhibited in its salon in 1899 in a plaster version. Captain Louis Tissier saw it and was so impressed that he wrote Camus a letter of admiration.

He dreams of ordering the entire work, but since his means are limited, would you agree to order a bronze copy of just the young figure, the “supplicant”? Camus agreed, although she emphasized the many difficulties in carrying out the casting. She needed money and the workers also had to be paid. After two years of work, Camus gave him the work.

This was the first casting of “The Beggar” to be separated from the group. The cast was by Edmond Gruet, from a famous family of casters. The copy is now in a private collection.

Around 1900, the art critic Gustave Geffroy brought Eugène Bleu to Camus’s home. It was a friendship at first sight. Bleu chose to cast “The Beggar” in two sizes. The small version, 28.5 cm, in fifty-nine copies. The large version, 62 cm, in ten copies. Most of them are now in private collections, but the public is invited to see them in three museums in France and one in New York.

In 1902, after returning from China, Captain Louis Tissier commissioned the entire statue from Camille. The “Académie des Beaux-Arts” (L'Académie des Beaux-Arts) had not approved Camille’s bronze commission, which she had been requesting for ten years. So, without a subsidy, it was a private individual, friend and supporter, Captain Tissier, who was willing to pay. Camille was alarmed by the expense and asked Captain Tissier to forgo the generous offer, but he insisted.

This copy, from 1902, cast by the Thiébaut Brothers Foundry, was in the possession of Tissier until it was displayed at the Musée d'Orsay, where it remains to this day. Another copy, cast by Frédéric Carvilhani in 1913, was in the possession of Camus's brother, Paul, until he donated it to the Musée Rodin in 1952. A third copy was cast by Eugène Bleu in 1907 and is in the Musée Camus-Claudel, which acquired it in 2010. This is copy number 3, while the copy in the apartment in Paris is copy number 1.

Beginning in 1907, Bello cast six bronze copies in a reduced version of the work. The copy found in the Paris apartment is, as mentioned, the first copy in this series. And where are the other four copies? They may have been melted down during World War II, by order of the Vichy regime, like many sculptures made of non-ferrous metals. It is very difficult, in fact impossible, to trace the copies that have disappeared.

Incarnations

How many incarnations did the work take, from one figure to three figures, while changing the presentation of the first figure, from terracotta and plaster to bronze, different materials and also different sizes! The multitude of names also speaks volumes and testifies to the depth and richness of Camus Claudel's sculptures. She never stopped improving, perfecting, adding names, changing versions, attacking from all angles, aspects, qualities, thoughts, in pursuit of perfection, achieved or not. Be your judge!

Invites readers to continue to reflect and deepen I wrote about the life and work of Camille Claudel.