Rodin said: “Laurens is one of my oldest friends. I posed for one of the Merovingian warriors who, in the decoration of the Pantheon, assist at the death of Sainte-Geneviève. His affection for me has always been faithful. It was he who got me the order for the _Bourgeois de Calais_. Though it did not bring me much, because I delivered six figures in bronze for the price they offered me for one, yet I owe him profound gratitude for having spurred me to the creation of one of my best works. [Illustration: THE SCULPTOR FALGUIÈRE By Rodin ] “It was a great pleasure to me to do his bust. He reproached me in a friendly way for having done him with his mouth open. I replied that, from the design of his skull, he was probably descended from the ancient Visigoths of Spain, and that this type was characterized by the prominence of the lower jaw. But I do not know whether he agreed to the justice of this ethnographical observation.” At this moment I perceived a bust of Falguière. Fiery, eruptive character, his face sown with wrinkles and bumps like a land ravaged by storms, the moustaches of a grumbler, hair thick and short. “He was a little bull,” said Rodin. I noted the thickness of the neck, where the folds of skin almost formed a dewlap, the square of forehead, the head bent and obstinate, ready for a forward plunge. A little bull! Rodin often makes these comparisons with the animal kingdom. Such a one, with his long neck and automatic gestures, is a bird which pilfers right and left; such another, too amiable, too coquettish is a King Charles spaniel, and so on. These comparisons evidently facilitate the work of the mind which seeks to class all physiognomies in general categories. Rodin told me under what circumstances he knew Falguière. “It was,” he said, “when the Société des Gens de Lettres refused my Balzac. Falguière, to whom the order was then given, insisted on showing me, by his friendship, that he did not at all agree with my detractors. Actuated by sympathy I offered to do his bust. He considered it a great success when it was finished—he even defended it, I know, against those who criticised it in his presence; and, in his turn, he did my bust, which is very fine.” [Illustration: STUDY HEAD, FOR THE STATUE OF BALZAC By Rodin Photograph reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ] [Illustration: STUDY FOR A HEAD, PRESUMABLY MADAME R. By Rodin Photograph reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ]