ONE of the most famous works by 'the father of modern sculpture', Auguste Rodin, will go on show in Cumbria next month.

Abbot Hall Art Gallery, in Kendal, welcomes his iconic piece The Thinker, shown alongside objects from the British Museum.

Rodin: Rethinking the Fragment opens on Friday August 10 and runs until Saturday October 27.

A classical torso from a marble statuette of Venus, dating back to about 1st century AD, a Royal Academy medal showing the Athenian Acropolis alongside the Belvedere Torso, and Eugène Carrière's portrait of Auguste Rodin also feature in the exhibition.

Abbot Hall is the very first venue in the country to host this British Museum Partnership Spotlight Loan, generously supported by the Dorset Foundation in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.

Venues on this tour will present the work in a different context.

Abbot Hall will look at Rodin's influences and in turn, his influence on Elisabeth Frink.

This is the first time Roman Art has been on show at Abbot Hall.

The objects shed light on the influence of classical antiquity on Rodin.

The exhibition explores how the French sculptor studied the fragments of ancient Greece and Rome, converting the limbless, headless torso into a new art genre.

Lakeland Arts director of programming, Frances Guy, says: "We are thrilled to be the first gallery in the country to host this British Museum Spotlight Loan.

"Rodin was the originator of 21st Century sculpture. He was the catalyst for changing the way artists appreciated sculpture. He made society look at public sculpture in a different, more fluid way.

"This is a really exciting time for Abbot Hall with two excellent exhibitions which are interlinked. Alongside Rodin we have a major exhibition by Elisabeth Frink - one of the most exciting sculptors of modern times. And of course, Frink's most important influence was Rodin.

"The Spotlight Loan explores the history and development of sculpture from Classical Antiquity to the present. Showing Rodin alongside Frink will invite visitors to compare, contrast and make their own relationships and connections to both artists' work."

Barbara Vujanović, senior curator for The Ivan Meštrović Museums in Zagreb, and project curator of this Spotlight Loan, says: "I am delighted to have worked with the British Museum on this exciting partnership exhibition, which reveals how Rodin viewed fragments from antiquity as works of art to be celebrated. I look forward to seeing the different ways in which the venues approach this exhibition."

Rodin was a radical and innovative artist who challenged the rules of contemporary sculpture. Perhaps his most important legacy was the idea that a fragment - an incomplete figure or even an isolated hand - could be a work of art in its own right.

The Thinker was conceived to sit high up on Rodin's The Gates of Hell. His inspiration for the sculpture included one of the most celebrated sculpture fragments to survive from antiquity, the Belvedere Torso.

Entrance to see Rodin: Rethinking the Fragment will be included in the main Abbot Hall entrance price.