Beginning in 1877, Rodin actively supervised a number of different photographers whom he engaged to document his work. Like many artists of his era, Rodin saw photography not as a rival or threat, but as a valuable tool for documenting and disseminating his work. Until around 1890, photographs served Rodin principally as an aid in the studio, as he hired photographers to document various stages of works in progress. It was not until the 1890s that Rodin began to take advantage of photographic reproduction as a means of disseminating and promoting his work to a wider public.

Rodin developed an important relationship with the entrepreneur and amateur photographer Eugène Druet, who supervised his famous retrospective exhibition at the Place d’Alma in 1900, which was timed to coincide with the Exposition Universelle. Rodin authorized Druet to display and sell his photographs of Rodin’s work at this exhibition.