There has been a tendency in the belated rediscovery of Camille Claudel for the artist’s biography to overshadow the art. True indeed, she suffered: first from 19th-century sexism; second, at the hands of her mentor Auguste Rodin; and last from chronic illness that placed in her a psychiatric hospital. Claudel’s artistry, however, is worthy of greater attention.

A good look at The Age of Maturity (1898) may help to shift the emphasis. It’s Claudel’s masterful metaphor on aging. Youth appears as a woman, on her knees and wide-eyed at the moment of loss. Middle age is stepping away, his turned back and solemn expression perhaps suggesting he’s oblivious to the loss. The lock of the two figure’s hands has just broken and in the gap we feel the ache of lost time and youth. Above, an older woman guides the man onward, her hands strong and reassuring—Claudel’s skill at expressive hands and feet was highly valued in Rodin’s studio.

Detail from Claudel’s The Age of Maturity. Photo: Luc Paris.

Infer, if you wish, some commentary on her troubled relationship with the heavyweight of 19th-century sculpture, but the subtitle she granted the work, un group fantastique, makes the symbolism clear. Indeed, it was for this quality that Paul Armand Silvestre, a French government inspector of fine arts, recommended that the state purchase the work in 1895. For reasons unknown, the sale never finalized.

A bronze edition of Claudel’s visionary scene could set a French record for the artist when it appears at Philocale Auction House in Orleans, France, on February 16, 2025. It has been given an estimate of €1.5 million to €2 million ($1.6 million to $2.1 million). If the high estimate is reached, the piece will represent the third most expensive Claudel work to be sold at auction, according to the Artnet Price Database.

Detail from Claudel’s The Age of Maturity. Photo: Luc Paris.

The sculpture is one of only four known versions (the other three are owned by French museums) and was sand cast in 1907 by Eugène Blot, a foundry owner, gallerist, and artist himself who proved a fierce and persistent champion of Claudel. By that point, Blot had acquired exclusive ownership of The Age of Maturity and would produce six casts (at one-third the original size), exhibiting the work three times alongside period artists. Sure, it’s a great work by Claudel, Alexandre Lacroix who helped authenticate the sculpture said via email, but as for Blot, it’s his masterpiece.

Blot’s edition was last seen publicly in 1908 and has resurfaced in somewhat unusual circumstances. While conducting an inventory of a Parisian apartment that had been uninhabited for 15 years, the auctioneer Matthieu Semont found the sculpture covered by a cloth sheet. The work was then researched and authenticated by Le Cabinet Lacroix-Jeannest, experts on French sculpture, who have helped locate and sell more than 20 Claudel works over the past decade.

The base of Claudel’s sculpture. Photo Luc Paris.

The group helped the De Massary Collection sale in 2017 that led to the current French record of a Claudel sculpture, €1.2 million paid for L’Abandon (ca. 1905).

Given Claudel has just received the museum treatment from the Getty Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago, and is set for a show at Berlin’s National Gallery in 2025, the timing of the auction is certainly auspicious.