In fact, this figure is a direct adaptation of motifs found in Michelangelo’s drawings and waxes. Rodin had the torso on display by 1888 and cast it in 1894. Its desiccated surface and incomplete formal tension made it appear a ruin from antiquity or the Renaissance.

Its evocative qualities may well have inspired Rodin to reunite forms generated in the making of St. John the Baptist.