Multi-Million Dollar Rodin Sculpture Sat In Madison Borough Hall For Years

MADISON, NJ — The bust sat, quiet and unassuming, in the corner of council chambers in Madison Borough for 85 years. There had long been rumors that the bust was actually carved by a world famous sculptor, but most chalked it up to being just a rumor.

Those rumors proved to be true: on Wednesday, Borough officials announced that the bust was carved by Auguste Rodin, a famous artist considered the father of modern sculpture. The piece was Rodin's long-lost sculpture, "Napoléon Enveloppé Dans Son Rêve (Napoleon Wrapped in his Dream)."

Madison Mayor Robert Conley was in awe, telling the Daily Record, "To think that we've had people walking past it for years, not realizing the great piece of art they were sitting next to, or standing next to during a council meeting." Conley did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

The bust was purchased by Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge as part of her private collection, an official told Patch. She donated a number of pieces to Borough Hall in the mid-1900s, and the building itself, which was built as a memorial to her son, who died young. Dodge hand-selected the pieces that now call the building home.

It was an art history student working for the piece's owners, the Hartley Dodge Foundation, who tipped modern-day officials off about the bust's origins.

"So, what are you going to do with the Rodin?" Mallory Mortillaro, then a student at Drew University, asked at a board meeting one day. She was first met with skepticism, but Mortillaro got to work researching the origins of the bust.

She eventually got in contact with Jérôme Le Blay, the world's leading Rodin expert, who said he recognized the bust but it had been lost to art historians since the 1930s.

Le Blay flew from Paris to Madison to take a look, and instantly knew.

"When Monsieur Le Blay walked into the chambers, he turned and said, 'Hello my friend, so is this where you have been hiding?' The Trustees were ecstatic!" Mortillaro said.

The authentication was made in 2015, but for security concerns the artworks origin was kept secret until Wednesday. It's worth between $4 and $12 million.

The bust will travel to Philadelphia to be shown in an exhibit marking the centennial of Rodin's death, beginning on Nov. 17. After that, it might continue to travel before coming home to Madison.

But first, locals will get a chance to see the sculpture at home: public viewings will be held on Oct. 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Oct. 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Mallory Mortillaro and Jérôme Le Blay, pictured with "Napoléon Enveloppé Dans Son Rêve," via the Hartley Dodge Foundation