"The National Gallery's collection of nineteenth-century sculpture is dominated by thirty-seven works by Auguste Rodin - among them The Kiss - and Honore Daumier's celebrated portrait busts and subversive figure Ratapoil, which were donated to the Gallery by Lessing J. Rosenwald in 1943 and 1951. They, together with sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Paul Gauguin, and Theodore Gericault, among others, are examined in unprecedented depth, shedding new light in many areas. All works have been newly photographed, highlighting the masterly execution of the marbles and the rich patinas of the bronzes. Ruth Butler contributed an insightful essay about Rodin and Mrs. John W. Simpson, the artist's friend and most important American patroness. Approximately sixty letters between the Simpsons and Rodin, published with the permission of the Musee Rodin, Paris, further illustrates this fascinating artist-patron relationship. Drawing on the opposition newspapers for which Daumier created many of his images and Mr. Rosenwald's archives now at the Gallery, Suzanne Lindsay offers new readings of the sculpture and new information on their history. Works by American sculptors of the period - Bela Lyon Pratt, William Rimmer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Henry Merwin Shrady - are also included here."--BOOK JACKET.