Rodin first met fellow sculptor Jules Dalou (French, 1838–1902) while they were students. In adulthood, they often vied for the same monument commissions. Dalou’s proposals generally fared better than Rodin’s, but for a time their friendship endured the competitions.

In 1883 Dalou posed for Rodin, free of charge. Rodin elected to show him bare-chested in a heroic, antique fashion, but with a tense neck suggestive of his friend’s notoriously combative temper.