“It was also through Bazire,” said Rodin, “that I made the acquaintance of Henri Rochefort, who was editor-in-chief of his newspaper. The celebrated polemic consented to pose to me. He had such a joyous spirit that it was an enchantment to listen to him, but he could not keep still for a single instant. He reproached me pleasantly for having too much professional conscience. He said laughingly that I spent one sitting in adding a lump of clay to the model and the next in taking it away. [Illustration: HENRI ROCHEFORT By Rodin ] “When, some time after, his bust received the approbation of men of taste, he joined unreservedly in their praises, but he would never believe that my work had remained exactly as it was when I took it away from his house. ‘You have retouched it very much,’ he would repeat. In reality, I had not even touched it with my nail.” Rodin, placing one of his hands over the tuft of hair and the other over the beard, then asked me, “What impression does it make now?” “You would say it was a Roman emperor.” “That is just what I wanted to make you say. I have never found the Latin classic type as pure as in Rochefort.” If this ancient enemy of the Empire does not yet know this paradoxical resemblance of his profile to that of the Cæsars, I wager that it will make him smile. When Rodin, a moment before, had spoken of Dalou, I had seen in thought his bust of this sculptor which is at the Luxembourg. It is a proud, challenging head, with the thin, sinewy neck of a child of the faubourgs, the bristly beard of an artisan, a contracted forehead, the wild eyebrows of an ancient communist, and the feverish and haughty air of the irreducible democrat. For the rest, the large fine eyes and the delicate incurvation of the temples reveal the passionate lover of beauty. In answer to a question, Rodin replied that he had modelled this bust at a moment when Dalou, profiting by the amnesty, had returned from England. “He never took it away,” he said, “for our relations ended just after I had introduced him to Victor Hugo. “Dalou was a great artist, and many of his works have a superb decorative value which allies them to the most beautiful groups of our seventeenth century. [Illustration: JEAN-PAUL LAURENS By Rodin ] [Illustration: JULES DALOU By Rodin ] “If he had not had the weakness to desire an official position he would never have produced anything but masterpieces. But he aspired to become the Le Brun of our Republic and the leader of all our contemporary artists. He died before he succeeded in his ambition. “It is impossible to exercise two professions at once. All the activity that is expended in acquiring useful relations and in playing a rôle is lost to art. Intriguers are not fools; when an artist wishes to compete with them he must expend as much effort as they do, and he will have hardly any time left for work.