A Burgher of Calais (Jean d'Aire)
Auguste Rodin
1889
- Medium
- Plaster
- Dimensions
- 208.3 × 66 cm (82 × 26 in.)
- Genre
- sculpture
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
large scalenineteenth centuryportraits: male subjectPost-Impressionism19th centuryplastermodeling (forming)frenchportraitfiguremensculpturemanformingsculptingportraitscoating (material)sculpture techniques
About
This statue is a part of the famous sculptural group The Burghers of Calais, made by Auguste Rodin to commemorate a tragic episode from the 14th century, during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. Rodin depicted the moment when six courageous men offered them-selves as hostages to Edward III, the king of England, in exchange for the liberation of the city of Calais from a siege that had been starving inhabitants for nearly a year. This plaster statue (painted to simulate bronze) was exhibited in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago, and entered the Art Institute’s collection that year.
