Art Chowder November | December, Issue 18 | Page 40

A
nother of Rodin’s most famous works, The Burghers of Calais,
was commissioned by the city of Calais in 1884 and completed
five years later. Its purpose was to commemorate an event during
the Hundred Years’ War, chronicled by one Jean Froissart (c. 1337 -
c. 1405), when in 1346 King Richard III surrounded the city. After an
eleven month siege, the English king offered to spare the people if six
of their prominent men would offer themselves up to him in exchange,
demanding that they walk out wearing nooses around their necks, and
carrying the keys to the city. Defying convention in the sculptural
treatment of heroic events, Rodin focused on the emotional and mental
conditions of each of the six burghers, as they walked in succession
barefoot and draped only in tunics, believing they were on their way
to their deaths. Through masterful control of form, facial expression,
and gesture, Rodin achieves a solemn sublime sense of movement and
psychological penetration, a heroic grandeur: gravitas.
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
Youth Triumphant, modeled 1894
Bronze; Fumiere Foundry
Jundt Art Museum; Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
1985.11
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
Heroic Bust of Victor Hugo, modeled 1890–97 or 1901–2
Musée Rodin cast 7 in 1981
Bronze; Coubertin Foundry
Lent by Iris Cantor
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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
Final Head of Eustache de St. Pierre, modeled ca. 1886
Musée Rodin cast II/IV in 1995
Bronze; Godard Foundry
Lent by Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation