Lot no. 140 in the catalogue of the sale held at Antony Roux on May 19 and 20 is a sculpture, Nymph and Faun, described as follows: “The faun has taken control over the nymph; he has forcibly sat her down on his hairy thigh and is caressing her with a passionate hand as she tries to repel him. This work is inspired by L’Après-Midi d’un faune by Stéphane Mallarmé.” The plaster was first shown at the fourth exhibition of the Secession in Munich in 1896, and the first bronze cast was seen at the inaugural Viennese Secession in 1898. The plaster version that belonged to Monet is much older and dates from 1886. It was no doubt a gift from Rodin himself, probably made in 1889 after the sculptor and painter exhibited together at the Georges Petit gallery. This token of respect followed an exchange made the preceding year, when Rodin gave the painter his Young Mother in the Grotto and received one of Monet’s paintings of Belle-Île.