Jean d'Aire
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
47 × 16.5 × 12.1 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Loïe Fuller
Accession Number
1917.723
Tags
male
About this artwork
In 1884 Rodin received a commission to create a large public monument honoring six French men who volunteered to be taken prisoner by an English army in exchange for the English releasing the town of Calais from a brutal 11-month siege. This reduced cast depicts one of the volunteers from the monument. Rather than idealized heroes, Rodin portrays the prominent citizens known as burghers as ordinary men experiencing personal confrontations with death. Jean d’Aire faces his fate with stoic resolve...