International Year of Chemistry 2011
Alloys and Symbols. Rodin’s The Thinker
Marek H. Dominiczak*
This first of a series of articles celebrating the International Year of Chemistry is dedicated to the most fundamental and yet rarely discussed issue: transformation of pieces of matter by artists into symbols of
human actions and thought.
The empirical manipulation of materials, such as
the extraction of metals from ores, existed long before
chemistry emerged as a science. Metallurgy was known
as early as the fifth to sixth millennium BCE. Silver,
copper, and tin were used, and meteoric iron was
known in ancient Egypt as “daggers from heaven.”
Bronze appeared in Europe in the third millennium
BCE, the technique of smelting probably having been
brought there from the Near East. Bronze became of
such importance that it eventually gave its name to the
entire epoch—the Bronze Age.
Bronze is a copper-based alloy, with tin being its
other main component. It may also include other metals
and nonmetallic elements, such as phosphorus and silicon. Not only does its durability make bronze such a good
material for a sculptor, it also has a high tensile strength,
which allows molding of protruding pieces and gives
sculpted figures flexibility and dynamism. In addition, the
minor components of bronze, such as lead, silver, or zinc,
affect its color. Finally, it varies in texture, from beautifully
smooth to a rough matte surface.
One of the earliest bronze figures, from approximately 2250 BCE, was discovered in Nineveh (in today’s
Iraq). In ancient Greece, small bronze figures were produced from the eighth century BCE, and there are spectacular pieces dating from the classical period (for instance, the Artemision Bronze depicting Zeus or Poseidon
in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens,
Greece, and the so-called Riace Warriors in the Museo
Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria, Italy).
During the Italian Renaissance the bronze doors of
the Florentine Baptistery became an iconic piece of art,
the result of a legendary competition between Filippo
Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, which Ghiberti
won. Bronze continued to be used widely into the
modern era and is still used by contemporary sculptors.
Department of Biochemistry, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, UK.
* Address correspondence to the author at: Department of Biochemistry, Gartnavel
General Hospital, Glasgow G12 0YN, UK. E-mail [email protected].
DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2010.158881
Rodin’s The Thinker from the Burrell Collection. © Culture
and Sport Glasgow (Museums). Courtesy of Bridgeman Art
Library with the kind permission of Culture and Sport
Glasgow.
Auguste Rodin (1840 –1917) is regarded as one of
the greatest modern sculptors. He visited Italy early in
his career and regarded himself as a bearer of the Italian
sculptural traditions of the 15th century. Rodin’s
sculptures were so lifelike that he was accused of using
casts of live persons to create sculpture, a procedure
regarded as inferior to “independent” work from a
model. He needed his peers’ support to restore his reputation. Incidentally, the largest collection of Rodin’s
works outside of Paris is in the Rodin Museum in
Philadelphia.
Rodin created The Thinker between 1880 and 1882 as
part of his greatest project, The Gates of Hell, on which he
worked for nearly 40 years. Since then, the figure has been
enlarged and cast many times. The Thinker was originally
meant to represent Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine
Comedy, but as the project progressed it became a generic
meditating figure. By creating this simple image of a nude
Clinical Chemistry 57:1 (2011) 145
International Year of Chemistry 2011
male figure engrossed in thought, Rodin managed to distill the spirit of human contemplation and enquiry. A
piece of metal alloy in the hands of an artist became a
symbol of human reflection. What could be better to link
art and science?
FURTHER READING
1. International Year of Chemistry 2011. http://www.
chemistry2011.org.
2. Breuer D, Burden H, Callow C, et al. Rodin, catalogue of the exhibition. London: Royal Academy
Publications; 2007. 319 p.
3. Néret G. Rodin, sculptures and drawings. Cologne:
Taschen; 2002. 96 p.
146 Clinical Chemistry 57:1 (2011)
Author Contributions: All authors confirmed they have contributed to
the intellectual content of this paper and have met the following 3 requirements: (a) significant contributions to the conception and design,
acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (b) drafting
or revising the article for intellectual content; and (c) final approval of
the published article.
Authors’ Disclosures or Potential Conflicts of Interest: No authors
declared any potential conflicts of interest.
Role of Sponsor: The funding organizations played no role in the
design of study, choice of enrolled patients, review and interpretation
of data, or preparation or approval of manuscript.
Acknowledgments: The author thanks Jacky Gardiner for her excellent secretarial assistance.