Rose Beuret Mignon

• Name — Rose Beuret • Birth Name — Marie Rose Beuret • Born — 9 June 1844 • Birthplace — Vecqueville (Haute-Marne), France • Died — 14 February 1917 • Place of death — Meudon, France • Burial Place — Villa des Brillants • Occupation — Seamstress, model

Beuret was born to Scholastique Clausse and Etienne Beuret, a farmer and winemaker from Haute-Marne. Beuret met Rodin in 1864 while he was working on the pediment of the Théâtre des Gobelins. Rose Beuret was a reserved and shy woman. Rodin was a serious and hard-working man, rustic in his manners and as shy as herself. They moved in together and continued their work, he as a sculptor and she as a seamstress. Beuret took care of the household work and Rodin sometimes helped her sew on buttons. On Sundays, the young lovers took long walks in the woods and the countryside near Paris. In 1893, Rodin moved with her to Meudon, at Scribe Road, in the House of Chiens-Loups. Beuret gradually became Rodin's faithful companion. She assisted him in the projection and organization of his workshop and posed for him on several occasions. With her, Rodin approached the portraits of women. They had a son, Auguste-Eugène Beuret (1866–1934), whom the artist did not recognize. The son also served as a model for Rodin (Mignon, Bellone, L 'Alsacienne) and as a workshop boy. However, their relationship deteriorated during his career as a sculptor. Despite Rodin having had numerous liaisons (Camille Claudel, Gwen John, and the American-born Duchesse de Choiseul, from 1907 to 1912), the two married on 29 January 1917 in Meudon, sixteen days before her death. Beuret was Rodin's model several times, testifying to his stylistic evolution, from Jeune fille au chapeau fleuri in 1865, still influenced by Carrier-Belleuse, Mignon in 1869–1870, then Bellone, executed in 1878 after his return from Belgium. She was also his subject for a 1898 mask.

Danièle Lebrun plays Beuret in Camille Claudel (1988). Séverine Caneele portrays her in Rodin (2017).

• Illustration — Jeune Fille au chapeau fleuri, 1865 • Illustration — Bellone, 1879 • Illustration — Rose Beuret bust, 1880 • Illustration — Masque de L'Alsacienne, 1880–1882 • Illustration — Beuret and Rodin in their Meudon garden, 1916