Dome

Group from back, left side, figure of Jean de Fiennes, the youngest burgher, with arms outstretched; In late 1884 Rodin secured the civic commission for a monument to the Burghers of Calais who in 1347 had offered their lives to the English in return for ending their siege. Although commissioned to depict only the leading burgher, Eustache de Saint-Pierre, Rodin decided to show all six, realizing each individually, first nude and then draped, in progressively larger stages, until the final scale of 2 m in height. Grouped one behind another in a ring, these gaunt figures express indecision as much as self-sacrifice. Before 1917 three more casts were made, one of which was purchased in 1911 by the National Art Collections Fund for the Victoria Tower Gardens, London (Rodin envisaged this monument high on a pedestal, silhouetted against the Houses of Parliament). There are eight additional casts and many bronzes of the individual burghers. This group is considered one of the 12 "original" casts (the limited edition set forth in the French Intellectual Property Code); cast in 1926 and given to the museum in 1955. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/11/2014)