The Burghers of Calais
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The Burghers of Calais is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Channel, surrendered to the English after an eleven-month siege. The city commissioned Rodin to create the sculpture in 1884 and the work was completed in 1889.
The Burghers of Calais
The Burghers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cast in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Memorial Court, Stanford University
Auguste Rodin
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François Auguste René Rodin was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.
1902 photograph
Rodin c. 1862
Auguste Rodin, John Singer Sargent, 1884
Rodin, c. 1875–80