Who taught Auguste Rodin drawing at Paris’s Petite École?

Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran taught Auguste Rodin drawing at Paris’s Petite École.

Lecoq de Boisbaudran was known for teaching students to draw from memory rather than relying only on repeated copying from models or plaster casts. This approach encouraged close observation, mental visualization, and a strong sense of movement. Those habits became important elements of Rodin’s later sculptural practice.

Rodin entered the Petite École, formally the École Spéciale de Dessin et de Mathématiques, in 1854. He developed considerable skill there, although he was rejected three times by the École des Beaux-Arts, France’s leading academic art school. The rejection helped keep his training outside the most prestigious official route.

Rodin later worked in several studios and absorbed influences from older masters, including Michelangelo. Lecoq’s teaching was not the only influence on him, but it formed an important part of his early artistic education.