Art card Auguste Rodin, The Eternal Idol, Verlag A. Egger Cologne

Art postcard reproducing The Eternal Idol in sepia, a sculpture by Auguste Rodin executed between 1890 and 1893, issued as number 748 of the "Die Meister" series by Verlag A. Egger in Cologne. The composition shows a seated female nude, her head slightly inclined toward the kneeling male nude who rests his face against her breast, the whole supported on a roughly modelled rocky base. The reproduction is executed in fine rotogravure that convincingly renders the bronze patina of the original. The reverse carries the series caption, the artist's dates and the publisher's imprint, without correspondence lines. Unposted, in good condition with a slight crease at the upper right corner.

The Eternal Idol, better known in its original French title L'Eternelle Idole, was created during the years in which Rodin worked on The Gates of Hell, and ranks among his most frequently discussed smaller works. The composition is generally read as an image of erotic veneration and surrender, with the kneeling male figure resting his face against the breast of the seated female in a posture suspended between adoration and emotional yielding. The Die Meister series was a German post-war editorial collection that brought well-known masterpieces of European sculpture and painting within the reach of a broad art-minded public in postcard format. Verlag A. Egger in Cologne issued during the nineteen-fifties and sixties several such reproduction series, aimed at museums, bookshops and collectors.