Giants Bearing the Weight of the Earth: Rodin's Titans

This vase is called the Titan's Pedestal. The vase itself was made by Carrier-Belleuse, but the male figures decorating its column are Rodin's work.

The men supporting the vase are the Titans of Greek mythology. In the myth, the Titans, having lost their war against the gods, were condemned to hold up the earth — and Rodin reimagined that scene as the Titans holding up this vase instead. Look closely and you can see their faces straining under the weight, grimacing from the effort, rendered in remarkably fine detail.

In making this piece, Rodin drew on the painting and sculpture of Michelangelo, an artist he deeply admired. He had traveled to Italy in early 1876 and seen Michelangelo's work firsthand, and the impression it left on him carried directly into this sculpture.