Two of the greatest sculptors of the modern age are brought together for an exciting new exhibition that art lovers must not miss.

Moore Rodin, the latest exhibition at sculptor and artist Henry Moore’s former home in Perry Green, Hertfordshire, is the first time that such a significant group of Auguste Rodin’s works has been presented in the British landscape, and the first time that another artist has been shown alongside Moore in the grounds and indoor spaces of his home.

The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with Musée Rodin in Paris and includes important loans from that museum and from public collections in the UK, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, such as Rodin’s Adam 1881, the third maquette for The Gates of Hell c.1881-82, and Walking Man Large Torso 1906.

Moore Rodin also includes an extensive selection of drawings by both artists and the first ever showing of a set of photographs taken by Moore of his cast of Walking Man at Perry Green.

“The relationship between figure and landscape is one of the key themes of this major exhibition,” says Anita Feldman, head of collections and exhibitions at the Henry Moore Foundation, “for the first time giving an opportunity to see the work of both artists side by side in Moore’s own surroundings.”

It is the contrast between Moore and Rodin that is immediately striking: Moore’s grounded forms are timeless and static, while Rodin’s articulate movement captures a precise moment.

However, look closer and you can see that the two men shared many concerns. Concentrating almost exclusively on the figure, a deeply-felt humanism compelled both sculptors to seek the universal, distilling the human form to its essence. And a shared interest in metamorphosis underpinned their desire to fuse the figure with nature, dissolving boundaries between anthropomorphic and geological forms.

Moore and Rodin never met yet Moore’s debt to Rodin was profound. As a sculpture student in Leeds, some of his first efforts were studies based on the French master’s works.

It was not until Moore had established his own working practices that he came to appreciate Rodin fully: “I began to realise that a lot of things one might be using and being influenced by are, compared with Rodin, altogether too easy. So that as time has gone on, my admiration for Rodin has grown and grown.”

  • Moore Rodin is at the Henry Moore Foundation, Perry Green until October 27, 2013. Details: 01279 843333, www.henry-moore.org