François Auguste René Rodin ( 1840 – 1917 ) was a French Realist and Impressionist sculptor whose talent has been widely compared to that of Michelangelo. Superficially Rodin is best known for his radical technique of leaving the marks of his labor clearly visible in his sculptures which have a rough, unfinished surface very much in line with the Impressionist movement in general.  It is for this reason that his career took so long to flourish.  It was not until his forties that the unique genius of Rodin was recognized when, finally, he began to win his constant battles with the art establishment who expected a polished finish to sculpture (akin to the smooth marbles we see in classical antiquity).  

The real talent of Rodin though, lay not in the surface of his sculptures but in his ability to penetrate and powerfully convey the psyche of his subject. This clever combination of rough technique and an incredibly attuned observation of the subtleties of posture, mean that his work literally drips with character and realism to the extent that it is breath-taking to behold.  In fact, his work was so convincing that Rodin was regularly accused of having formed his molds upon living people.